# Chapter 1: Remnants of Steel
When Joshua regained consciousness, he found himself standing in a void.
This void was deep and dark, with no end or direction, no distinction between up and down, left or right, front or back—all was the same chaos, as elusive as a person's dream.
But precisely because it was like a dreamlike chaos, it could be influenced by thought—because of the warrior's awakening, this profound void began to change. A vast expanse of land took shape beneath his feet, monotonous clouds and sky appeared alongside it, and as twin moons hung in the black firmament, a crude little world had already formed.
"...Am I dead?"
Was this the world after death?
Initially somewhat startled, but immediately recalling the scene of his stalemate with the Ten Plagues Great Star, Joshua made a rather unfavorable guess about his situation.
This was indeed reasonable. The pain still echoing in his soul told Joshua how much damage divine power had inflicted on his body. If not for the fact that his heart was ordinarily the core organ for channeling battle qi—its resilience and endurance even surpassing bone—it too might have been burned to ashes by the boundless power.
But even so, having lost most of the flesh from his body, suffering massive blood loss, and then falling from the sky after losing consciousness, even Joshua himself didn't think he could survive.
Regardless, now was not the time to ponder whether he was dead or not.
The warrior began trying to move within this monotonous world, but he was surprised to find that everything was exactly like the real world. It was as if he had a physical body, freely walking across this black earth. Though there were no plants, he could still smell the fragrance of soil, and a gentle night breeze slowly blew, bringing a hint of summer.
Wait, when did the wind start?
Suddenly looking up, Joshua warily scanned left and right.
During the time just after he had awakened, this world was still a void of nothingness, but then earth and sky, clouds and bright moons appeared. Now, the soil had a familiar scent, and wind began to blow through the originally silent world, even allowing him to feel temperature—
Everything was becoming more and more detailed, the crude beginning to transform into reality. The warrior frowned. Under his gaze, tender shoots grew from the black soil, mountains and hills began to rise from the earth, and accompanied by spreading moisture, a river like a silver ribbon appeared beside Joshua. Behind him, pine forests rustled softly like the sound of tides, as if whispering secrets.
The twin moons in the night sky cast their light, draping everything in a white veil.
It was as if some existence was recalling, shaping a world through memory. Every detail grew more and more refined, until even Joshua could hear the rushing of the river, the cicadas chirping among the trees. The ground beneath his feet was no longer just black soil, but soft earth mixed with fallen leaves, shrub branches, and wood chips.
Not only that—when the warrior looked ahead, a familiar glow of fire appeared. It was the color of village hearth fires. He was now standing on a green hill, overlooking a small riverside village at the edge of a mountain forest. Beside the river stood a suspension bridge built of hardwood and a creaking water wheel. The sound of a mill operating drifted over, making one wonder whether this was an illusion or the real world.
Things were becoming complicated.
Just as Joshua frowned, pondering what this scene meant, a white figure slowly emerged from the village.
This was a white-haired youth flawless in both temperament and appearance. He wore white robes, a faint smile on his face. The youth walked slowly along the path between the trees, reaching the middle of the hill not far from Joshua.
Then he sat down, hugged his knees, and looked up quietly at the bright moon.
The moment Joshua saw his face, he was immediately shocked.
He had seen this youth before—in the residual memories of the Azure Orb. Not long ago, when he was assassinated by the Five-Colored Dragon Clan using a curse from an Evil God, he had seen this face in the illusion created by the Order Force that automatically protected his body!
Crimson pupils locked firmly onto the other party. Joshua took a deep breath. If there was no mistake, then this youth looking at the moon, seemingly about to fall asleep, was... the Sage when he was still a child!
Just like before, the white-haired youth seemed not to notice Joshua not far away, quietly gazing at the silvery twin moons by himself. A smile still hung at the corners of his mouth, his eyes somewhat dreamy, as if thinking, as if reminiscing.
Just as the warrior was considering what to do next, the youth suddenly spoke a sentence. A clear young voice rang out, echoing across the hill.
"How nostalgic... the twin moons of home."
Then he turned his head, using his white, mirror-like pupils to look at Joshua.
The world before the warrior's eyes shattered in an instant.
Countless fragments of memory flashed by like fleeting shadows. In the haze, Joshua saw the other's growth. The youth who had once smiled while gazing at the moon slowly matured, the smile at the corners of his mouth gradually fading. A serious young man studied the knowledge of the sages, pondered the meaning behind all phenomena. To explore the truth and power of all things, he chose to travel the entire world. For this, the young man's footsteps covered the whole continent.
Jungles, hills, plains, cities of foreign races, even ocean currents beneath the deep sea, frigid glaciers, and steep, deep valleys between mountains—alien worlds from beyond space-time rifts. By the time the youth returned, he had mastered power different from steel and fire, battle qi and magic.
Light called Order and Holiness shone in his palms.
Everything after that became fragmented, like ice smashed into pieces—shattered fragments could never return to their original form. The warrior could only see the end of it all—
In the dark, deep void, countless space-time gates were slowly opening. Huge shadows writhed. Power from the ancient abyss struck from outside the world. Countless bizarre chaos monsters surged forth endlessly, intending to swallow the world before them.
And before them, a figure draped in a robe of light, his face obscured by glory, alone raised his unparalleled authority.
...
...
The world returned to chaos. In the void, there was no distinction between up and down, left or right.
Emerging from the shock of witnessing the opening of the Abyss Gate and the prelude to the war between the Sage and the Evil Gods, Joshua slowly looked around. Sensing a familiar and vast presence, he sighed, then spoke in a deep voice: "Please come out, great existence I know not how to address."
"What purpose do you have in showing me these memories?"
His voice quickly faded in the void, like a stone thrown into water without causing a single ripple.
But another voice quickly appeared.
"I originally wanted to see, wanted you to see, not these."
Immediately responding to Joshua's inquiry, a voice transmitted from the chaos. This voice was like thunder, carrying rumbling echoes, yet surprisingly not unpleasant: "What I wanted to see was the memories of your past, not the past of this powerful being who has mastered the power of existence."
With the echoes, the entire void began to twist violently. As specks of silver light emerged from the chaos, under Joshua's unsurprised gaze, a silver serpent so vast it was unimaginable—even comparable to an entire world—slowly appeared before the warrior. It turned its enormous head, the light between its eyes like the sun, flashing with intense silver radiance.
"Your body carries the scent of my kind. You must have already met other world wills."
This serpent's speech was simple and direct. It didn't even leave Joshua time to reply, but stated bluntly: "So, you may call me the Steel Serpent Ilgena. In your language, this is my name."
Why do you want to see my past?
Before he could speak, the question had just flowed through Joshua's mind when the great world serpent simultaneously gave its answer: "Because of curiosity."
Its voice vibrated through the void, carrying a hint of curiosity and appreciation: "You are merely a human, not even a life I have nurtured, yet you are willing to fight against the chaos in the void for the sake of bearing all this."
"Naturally, I am curious. Even I can be curious—curious about what the past of a warrior like you looks like, what kind of experiences shaped your will and beliefs, and what kind of world could nurture an existence like you."
The Steel Serpent Ilgena was completely different from the Carlis world will Joshua had encountered before. If Carlis was a wise elder, a towering mountain peak, then Ilgena was a howling gale, sweeping straight across the earth, its words without any pause or transition.
Joshua originally wanted to ask more questions, but Ilgena shook its enormous head and said somewhat regretfully: "Warrior, our time for conversation is short. Your body has already left this world, so I cannot forcibly keep your soul."
"My body is still alive?"
Raising his eyebrows, Joshua, who had been unable to speak, finally managed to say this. While the news brought him joy, it also puzzled him: "But my injuries were like that. No matter how I think about it, I shouldn't have survived."
According to Joshua's own calculations, the moment the divine power withdrew from his body, his physical form should have completely collapsed from the strain. Combined with massive bleeding from the wounds and extensive internal injuries, he should have died outright.
"The Father of Nature—the deity you speak of—healed your body."
Facing Joshua's question, even the storm-like Ilgena world will patiently explained. But when mentioning the Father of Nature, the steel serpent's voice carried an elusive, almost pleased tone: "This great tree's existence is no different from an Evil God to me. It transformed my body, causing most of the lives I originally nurtured to go extinct. Those that survived changed their original forms to survive... But to save you, it fell into slumber again and lost the ability to continuously transform the world."
Its relationship with the Father of Nature was absolutely not harmonious. If not for the Father of Nature sleeping for millennia and the newly born elves gradually becoming original inhabitants of this world, there might have been a battle between deities.
But regardless, everything was in the past. The Steel Serpent lowered its head, gazing at Joshua. Its thunderous voice became serious and low for the first time: "Regardless, you have saved me... saved the living beings of this world. Perhaps for me, this is not the best outcome, but it is not bad either."
"Take this. It is proof of your salvation, and also my authority. You are worthy of this honor."
A point of silver light suddenly appeared before Joshua's chest. The warrior reached out and caught this star-like light. But before he could lower his head to examine it, the Steel Serpent's voice appeared again.
"Return now. Return to your homeland."