Chapter 21: Divinity
Beside Nostradamus, the man with that familiar aura now seemed to be engaged in some strange preparatory work.
—Count Radcliffe, master of the Moldavia Territory, Dragon Slayer.
This was the identity of the man before her. The High Sister, whose eyes were covered, nodded slightly. Loranda had apparently gone to his territory, and the two should have met not long ago. It seemed that her "little brother" was living well, not as she had imagined—sleeping rough, lost in the Black Forest.
But what exactly was he doing?
"Watching" Joshua's actions, Saya was somewhat puzzled.
In the High Sister's mental perspective, the warrior now slightly raised his right hand. He extended his index finger, upon which a faint glimmer of Battle Qi gathered. This light was so dim that it seemed a single gust of wind could scatter it.
In fact, it did indeed extinguish immediately.
"Heh, just as I thought—this fluctuation and characteristic."
Joshua's tone and demeanor proved he had anticipated this. Withdrawing his hand, the warrior snorted softly and murmured to himself, "So it really is this thing. It shouldn't be appearing yet."
Nostradamus was actually doing something similar. The old mage's eyes glowed with a deep blue light as he calmly observed the black sea of mist. His gaze seemed capable of piercing through time and space. He swept his eyes back and forth across the black mist, but his brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Finally, he dispelled the observation spell and spoke to those around him in a wary, serious tone: "This thing looks like just a patch of black mist, but the space-time coordinates inside are already chaotic. It's become something like another realm. If you enter recklessly, it's easy to get lost."
Having said this, he also noticed the warrior's actions beside him and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Joshua, what are you trying to do?"
"Me?"
Joshua asked back, exchanging glances with Ying and Lin beside him, then said in an extremely natural tone, "I want to go in and take a look."
—Go in and take a look?
Nostradamus was taken aback. He had just finished saying that the interior of the mist was like another realm, and entering rashly would easily lead to getting lost. Why would Joshua still want to go in now? The old mage thought for a moment, opened his mouth to speak, but saw a hand raised.
"You're definitely going to say that this is too dangerous, that without thorough preparation, I could easily get lost in this mist just like Robzek and Muir, and that would be a loss not worth the gain."
Raising his hand to stop the old mage's advice, the warrior shook his head: "But don't worry. I already know what this thing is and have made preparations. Also, I seem to have discovered the reason for this mist's current strangeness."
Having said this, Joshua paused. He looked up at the sea of mist, which was as calm as a rippleless lake, and said softly, "Although very similar, it's completely different."
Ignoring the puzzled expressions of Nostradamus and Saya, Joshua carefully sensed the aura within the mist—well-hidden, yet still detectable.
It was something the warrior was extremely familiar with, something he had sensed from the Father of Nature and from his own bones before.
Divinity.
And divinity, combined with the mist that could distort space-time coordinates, reminded him of a phenomenon that had become famous in the later period of the Saint's Descent Era in his previous life.
[Divine Calamity Mist]
The Divine Calamity Mist was not an ordinary monster like a magical beast. It had no flesh, no attributes, and couldn't even be considered a living creature. It was indeed a mass of mist, but it was not composed of water—it was composed of pure "thought."
In his previous life, when the Great Magic Tide swept across the multiverse, the various demi-planes and outer realms originally attached to the Mycroft World all fell onto the main plane continent, including the dwelling place of the gods—Boundless Heaven.
It was only then that the various races on the continent learned that there were so many gods in this world. Basically, every race had its own patron deity. They might not be famous, but they truly existed and protected their people. The descent of the Seven Gods of Humanity had also caused a stir in regions where faith was prevalent.
The Seven Gods hardly interfered in the mortal world. The Church of the Seven Gods, as their spokespersons, had always been neutral mediators of disputes. But even so, the Church did not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations. Even during wars, they merely provided disaster relief and treated the wounded. The descent of the Seven Gods to the mortal world, while inspiring many believers, did not change this. They lived peacefully in their Great Temples, waiting for the magic tide to pass and for the moment to return to Boundless Heaven.
But the reason the Seven Gods of Humanity could live so leisurely and peacefully on the Mycroft Continent was that they possessed immense power. As a major pantheon protecting humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and other races, the power of the Seven Gods of Humanity was far beyond ordinary imagination. Historical records alone showed that they had indeed eliminated several other gods, the most recent being the orc god, [Raging Storm], the God of War and Orcs, causing all other racial gods to pale at the mention of humans and retreat upon encountering them.
However, the overlap of Boundless Heaven and the Mycroft World did bring many problems to the entire continent. For example, the appearance of strange monsters like the [Divine Calamity Mist] gave many people headaches.
Gods are immortal beings. Even after being destroyed by other gods, they leave behind nearly indestructible imprints. The Mycroft World had experienced several eras, even having fought against evil gods and the Abyss. There was no shortage of gods who had fallen throughout the ages. Their imprints were engraved in Boundless Heaven, silently dormant. But this Great Magic Tide stirred these immortal divine imprints.
In places where Boundless Heaven overlapped with the continent, patches of strange mist began to appear, swallowing passersby. Adventurers from all over quickly discovered these strange fogs. After careful exploration, they finally determined that these mists were alive. They would actively spread to attack more people.
Thus, these mists transformed from a strange phenomenon into monsters that had to be eliminated as quickly as possible. But no matter the rank of the adventurer—Silver, Gold, or even continent-renowned Ultimate-rank experts—they all fell into it, vanishing without a trace, completely swallowed. This immediately caused worldwide panic, until the Seven Gods themselves issued instructions.
This mist was actually formed from the imprints left behind by fallen ancient gods. It would naturally absorb the thoughts of surrounding life to enrich itself. This was not an attempt to resurrect, but merely an unconscious instinct. It would trap all life that fell into it, pulling them into dreams to slumber. Because the gods' divine duties and personalities differed in life, the dreams would also vary. To resist, one needed a strong will.
The reason all those people had lost consciousness before was simply that they were not prepared. Although they were vigilant, they had no clear intention to resist the dream. But with proper preparation, adventurers could enter. Even if they accidentally fell into a dream, they could maintain self-awareness and not get lost.
The above was all official lore from [Continent of Strife]. In reality, Joshua clearly knew that in his previous life, these mists, though called monsters, actually represented the entrances to new dungeons.
[Raging Storm], [Oceanic Wind], [Hundred-Headed Demon Serpent], [Rock Mountain Giant]... Even the imprints left behind by fallen gods possessed great power. From these dreams, players could complete tasks left by the gods' consciousness, or fight against them, to obtain rewards—such as powerful breathing techniques from past eras, long-lost special spells, rare metamagic techniques, magical item crafting blueprints, or various talents... As long as they could complete them, the rewards were guaranteed.
Provided they could complete them.
The name [Divine Calamity Mist] was no joke. For the vast majority of players, it was indeed a true nightmare. Even fallen gods possessed power beyond what players of that time could fathom. For example, if one chose the combat route, the difference in monster strength between the dream and the real world was like the gap between a super-heavyweight professional boxer and a street thug. Very few people in the entire world could fully clear a Divine Calamity dungeon. Most people, after multiple attempts and roughly gauging the limits of their power, would wisely withdraw and stop torturing themselves.
An ordinary bird could teleport, fire light beams and dragon breath, and fly at supersonic speeds. Who in their right mind would come here to suffer?
However, Joshua was one of the people who had cleared it before.
But even he had challenged it dozens of times before mastering it through practice. However, the black sea of mist now appearing at the Imperial Royal Mage Association was different from the mist of that time.
"Too weak... This divinity, compared to the Divine Calamity Mist born from the descent of Boundless Heaven, is like the gap between an ocean and a puddle..."
Divinity had extremely strong resistance to magic. No wonder the mages were helpless against it. Nodding thoughtfully, Joshua also noticed that this mist was corrosive, which was completely different from the Divine Calamity Mist of his previous life. That mist was just ordinary fog; otherwise, so many people wouldn't have wandered into it. If all the mist had been corrosive, no one would have entered in the first place, let alone be drawn into a dream.
Despite many differences, the warrior could still confirm that this was indeed Divine Calamity Mist. Coupled with the explanations of the old mage and the High Sister about the cause and effect, Joshua understood that this was likely the imprint left by the ancient race's god worshipped beneath that orc royal court.
"Are you really just going to walk in like that?"
Nostradamus had no intention of questioning Joshua's ability to act. He was simply asking if the warrior was prepared, and reminded him, "Let me say in advance: my spells might not be able to help you due to the mist's isolation. And I won't go in with you until I'm ready myself."
"No problem."
Although in his previous life it was just the entrance to a dungeon, now he was truly facing the [Divine Calamity Mist]—the difference was like heaven and earth—Joshua did not hesitate. This was partly due to his confidence in his own strength, but more so because he knew he possessed a trace of divinity within himself.
Divinity. It was precisely because of divinity that this mist could trap even Gold-rank, or even Ultimate-rank experts into dreams. And although the divinity on the warrior was faint, it could still grant him strong resistance to such illusions.
"You two stay here." Feeling the fiery gazes of the two Divine Mechanisms beside him, Joshua couldn't help but sigh, turning to Ying and Lin. "It's not a fight. I'm just going in to find something."
"Again..."
"It looks so interesting..."
"Fine then..."
Not paying attention to Joshua's interaction with his weapons, or the sighs of the young boy and girl, Nostradamus temporarily found no other reason to stop the warrior from taking risks. He was never one to stop others from acting, and now that Joshua had advanced to the Ultimate-rank, he would do so even less. So the old mage could only shrug and offer a final blessing: "May truth favor you. Good luck."
To be honest, he also had an inexplicable trust in Joshua. This man before him was so special that no difficulty seemed able to stop him, even this troublesome mist. As long as the warrior was allowed to move forward, he would grind it into dust.
So, let him try.
Beside him, the High Sister Saya, who had been silent all along, also slightly raised her head. Although she wore a blindfold, she still looked at Joshua as if watching, observing his preparations before the exploration.
But the warrior suddenly felt waves of holy light and divine spell fluctuations. In an instant, he found himself blessed with at least seven or eight buffs and more than five resistances to negative effects.
[True Word·Sanctuary], [Divine Blessing], [Prayer of Heavenly Light], [Heroic War Soul], [True Word·Endurance]... The buffs kept increasing, and the source was the still-silent High Sister, who seemed to be doing nothing.
Silent instant casting? This strength was indeed impressive, even stunning. No wonder she could become the High Sister of the monastery.
"Thank you."
The warrior nodded. Although these buffs were probably unnecessary, they were a gesture of goodwill, and he had no reason to refuse.
"May your exploration go smoothly."
Responding in a gentle voice, the High Sister Saya, as if she had done nothing, replied softly, "Dangers lurk everywhere in the mist. I can sense that the source is underground in that building. Seven mages are sleeping there, but unlike Captain Robzek and the other mage, their condition is very bad."
"Those Harsu people."
Nostradamus shook his head. "As expected, a bunch of incompetents. Not one of them escaped."
His temper seemed quite high. Indeed, with such a problem occurring in the Mage Association, as its president, he couldn't shirk responsibility. But even so, the old mage gave a concise blessing: "May you resolve this smoothly."
"If things go wrong, retreat immediately. I'll cover you." Then, he quickly added a sentence.
"No need to worry."
Shaking his head, Joshua turned and walked toward the black sea of mist. He laughed easily, "I'll be back in a moment."
Yintian Shenyin recommends a book, *Maids' War*. This book is indeed good. It's also about a game in another world, written very interestingly. This is not an ad. I've been reading a lot of game-otherworld stuff lately to recharge my energy, and this book is one of the few I can actually get through. The update is late. I'll make it up tomorrow, continuing with a 4000-word update...