Chapter 12: That Which I Cherish
The arrival of death was like winter rain, cold and numbing to the senses, making the body stiff and heavy, until finally consciousness, like a lump of iron, plunged rapidly into the abyss.
Joshua calmly experienced this heaviest, most intense dizziness and drowsiness. He watched his own flame of life flicker out bit by bit, as endless memories replayed before his eyes.
But he actively extinguished the replay of his memories, continuing instead to perceive the taste of contact with death.
Since his eyes had been burned away and every nerve in his body had turned to charcoal, all ordinary perception was gone—sound, taste, touch, sight—everything had long since departed. Yet this state instead made it easy for the warrior to detect things he normally could not.
Joshua could see that only a mass of what seemed like a burning soul remained, flickering with a blazing radiance in the darkness.
Illuminated by the light of this soul, the warrior vaguely saw and heard something.
"This won't do! Holy Light can regenerate flesh and blood, but…"
An elderly, kind woman's urgent worry.
"At this point, pure life energy is needed…"
An old man's calm narration.
The perception of his soul state was rapidly expanding. Joshua could now detect that beside him were four Ultimate-level experts, using extremely powerful Holy Light to maintain the vitality of his physical body. Joshua could perceive that the charcoal-like form placed in the center of this solemn hall was his own body. He was now observing himself from a third-person perspective.
On the other side of the hall, a silver-haired girl and a black-haired boy had moisture at the corners of their eyes, as if wanting to come to his side, but were stopped by Loranda, whose expression was grave. From the corridor not far away came the hurried footsteps of the dragon girl and the heavy tread of Chu Hao.
Matter could not block the warrior's vision. If he wished, his sight could instantly penetrate these ordinary stones and wood, seeing the scenery hundreds or thousands of meters away.
So this is the perception of the soul.
Joshua realized this inwardly. So this is the perspective of ghosts? Truly peculiar, very different from what he had imagined.
Death did not inspire even a shred of fear in the warrior, as if such an emotion had never existed in his soul.
Quite novel. Joshua thought this, his powerful soul rippling with invisible waves through the hall, yet none of those present detected it. The Divine Mechanism siblings were praying for the warrior, the Ultimate-level experts were healing the warrior, the battle on the distant surface had ceased, the rain of molten lava had stopped, and the fighting on the Holy Mountain had temporarily concluded.
Joshua felt that in this state, he could actually speak, just like the ghosts in legends. It wasn't difficult; it only required a bit of preparation. Just as he was about to try it, to greet Ying and Lin, a powerful and holy energy fluctuation came from the other side of the hall.
Pope Igor and a lady exuding natural energy projected themselves there. The aged Pope first stared solemnly at Joshua's body in the center of the hall, but then, as if sensing something, he began to scan the entire hall.
Of course, His Holiness the Pope quickly spotted Joshua off to the side. Joshua's soul had now gradually taken on the appearance of his human form. He was about to greet the old Pope when Igor's mental transmission interrupted the warrior's action.
"Don't do that, Joshua. You…"
The Pope's voice was a mix of exasperation and amusement, tinged with surprise and helplessness: "I specifically diverted my attention from the battlefield and brought Lady Nature Mentor here to reshape your body, not to let you become an undead ghost—hurry back to your body."
The Legendary experts had been watching the battlefield on the Holy Mountain. Whether it was Joshua's sudden assault or Evian's decisive counterattack, all had been under the gaze of the three Legendary dragons and three Legendary experts. At the moment the Red Dragon was nearly killed, the three Legendary dragons had even shown signs of leaving the void to return to the Holy Mountain battlefield, but Igor and the others had stopped them.
Then came Evian's strike, driving the divine artifact longsword, which had lowered the entire western part of Gray Island by nearly five meters and split open dozens of kilometers of continental shelf along the coast.
By this point, the three Legendary dragons had almost no further desire to fight. Their sole thought was to return to the main material plane. Igor immediately diverted his attention, persuading the Nature Mentor to project her avatar into the Holy Mountain Temple.
He knew Joshua wasn't dead, and he also knew that saving the warrior could only rely on this beautiful and powerful elven lady.
But the old Pope never expected Joshua's soul to be so active. In the mere few minutes between life and death, he had already organized his memories and consciousness, achieving complete cognitive function—if the Pope hadn't arrived quickly, the warrior might have been reborn as a powerful spirit entity.
This was no joke. Igor even saw divine patterns spreading across Joshua's soul. Supported by this power, the warrior would still possess great strength as a spirit, perhaps not much weaker than in life. But then he wouldn't be able to revive, so the old Pope could only urge Joshua's soul to return to his body quickly, not wander around in soul form.
Regardless, this time the warrior had done the Church of the Seven Gods a great favor. If he hadn't pinned down the Red Dragon's power, an entire direction of the defensive line might have been obliterated by the divine artifact longsword's strike. The split sea and continental shelf were proof—this was no exaggeration but fact. For this alone, Igor had to go all out to help Joshua revive, even if it meant requesting a 'Divine Descent.'
It hadn't come to that final step yet. The Nature Mentor was walking toward Joshua's body; she could heal his injuries.
Strangely, a ring of Order Force light patterns flickered on the outer layer of the warrior's soul, seemingly shielding it from the Nature Mentor's perception, preventing this Legendary expert from detecting Joshua's soul and Igor's transmission. But Joshua himself didn't notice this. Heeding the old Pope's words, he decisively returned to his body.
The moment his soul re-entered his charcoal-like form, the warrior seemed to see a green crystal overflowing with life energy pressed against his heart.
Then, a warm sensation came, and his heartbeat began anew.
Just as he felt he could open his eyes and see the world again from a human perspective, Joshua suddenly felt a dizzying spin.
In the hall, the Nature Mentor watched the warrior's heart in surprise—the moment she pressed the Heart of the Mother Tree against his energy core and used a secret technique to spread its powerful life force throughout his body, triggering flesh regeneration, Joshua's heart suddenly blazed with a bright cyan light.
This light, mixed with the life force of the Heart of the Mother Tree that could revive the dead, rapidly repaired Joshua's body. In mere seconds, charcoal could be seen falling away, new red flesh and various tendons and nerves regenerating at astonishing speed. His internal organs, even his eyeballs, regrew at a terrifying pace.
At this moment, Joshua's consciousness awakened in a certain illusion.
This was a vast grassland, stretching endlessly, with green grass covering the hills. A small river wound along the edge of the grassland, beside mountains and forests. A peaceful, tranquil little village sat by the river, the sound of a waterwheel mill operating, creaking as it turned.
The sky was clear, cloudless, with bright sunlight falling.
"The first time I revived a lamb from our flock, my mother looked at me with fear in her eyes, my father did his best to calm her and gently asked me not to use this power in front of others. But I knew he was also afraid, confused about my origins, as if I weren't their child."
Joshua paused slightly, then turned his head. He saw a person sitting on a green hill behind him—a youth with white hair and white eyes, with a delicate and handsome face.
This youth had pure white hair that seemed not of this world. His features were soft, flawless, as if he were the embodiment of perfection. Beauty and handsomeness could only describe part of him, but what stood out most was the faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
He sat quietly on the hill, smiling, his simple linen robe fluttering in the wind, making a soft rustling sound.
"...Sage?"
Joshua took a deep breath. This wasn't his first time in this place—the little village where the Sage spent his childhood. It wasn't even the first time the Sage had spoken, but it was the first time he had initiated communication.
But the white-haired youth didn't reply to the warrior. He just stood up slightly and looked up at the sunlight.
The clear young voice continued: "Fear of the unknown is temporary. They eventually accepted my abilities, but I wasn't satisfied. What does my power represent? What secrets lie behind it? I wanted to know all this, because of human curiosity."
Facing the sun, the youth spread his arms. Golden sunlight fell into his eyes, reflecting a dreamy hue: "So I left my hometown, traveled across the world, exploring the reality behind nature, the truth behind all phenomena."
The peaceful riverside village began to change. Time flowed rapidly. High mountains, dense forests, elven villages, dwarven lairs, halfling hamlets, lizardman tribes, human cities, the floating islands of the winged people who lived in the sky, centaurs galloping across the plains, wild orcs eating raw meat in savage lands, and the Ogre, dull as stone but stronger than magical beasts, hunting giant dragon-beasts under the leadership of their two-headed kin.
On the cliffs, harpies dwelled. In the deep ocean abysses, primitive fishmen tamed sea beasts. Even at the center of the northernmost ice sea, atop the highest peaks of the western continent, countless strange races thrived. Everything was so vibrant it stirred deep emotion.
But finally, the illusion settled on a battlefield.
This was a battlefield from thousands of years ago. Armies of mixed races fought for a fertile plain, swords clashing, blood flowing, corpses covering the ground, red liquid dyeing rivers and lakes.
The white-haired youth stood at the very center of the battlefield, blood and corpses around him. He calmly stroked the cheek of a human warrior, closing his still-wide eyes. The bloodshed was utterly incongruous with him, yet he showed no displeasure.
"Knowing truth, possessing power, one sees higher and farther, thinks deeper and heavier."
He said softly, as if talking to himself: "This world is full of strife and suffering. War and poverty sweep across the seven continents. Nations are in constant conflict, races slaughter each other. I wanted to change this. I could change this. So I changed everything."
The illusion shifted again. The white-haired youth stood at the center of all chaos. He turned to look at the silent warrior. Beside the youth, figures appeared one by one, until thirteen people stood by his side, firmly guarding him.
"I led humanity to progress, brought peace through war. The world returned to calm under my power and that of my followers. I freed humans from city-states, uniting them into an empire. I led elves out of the dense forests, forming alliances. I made dwarves unite under a single leader for the first time. Most conflicts were eliminated, order was established, and all races joined hands to march into a new era."
He said calmly: "So they honored me as the Sage."
Time finally froze on an autumn day thousands of years ago. In a white marble temple, the Sage's expression shifted from solemnity back to the gentle smile of his childhood. His gaze could sweep across the entire world. Though there were occasional conflicts, still killings, wars and suffering, poverty and ignorance quietly occurring and persisting in some corners, this was enough. He was satisfied.
Dwarves forged mobile steel cities in the mountains. Elves built solar ships capable of sailing the void in the sky. Human exploration teams traveled through time and space, discovering over a dozen new worlds. Nothing could be better. Everything was developing steadily. Even if the essence of life was to grow and evolve through war, to advance and survive through slaughter, in this era, no one needed to do so.
Seeing this, Joshua took a deep breath.
He knew what happened next—the Abyss invasion, the Evil Gods' descent. All peace and prosperity were shattered, like a clay pot in a kiln.
The warrior remained silent.
The white-haired youth naturally knew this. So he just looked at the thriving scene around him with a nostalgic and regretful expression, then everything dissolved into nothingness. All illusions returned to darkness, leaving only him and the warrior standing in the dark void, facing each other.
"Order is always broken, but new order is always established. The multiverse cycles through the destruction and rebirth of all things. I think our world is the same."
He said softly, then walked up to the warrior. He reached out, as if wanting to touch Joshua's face, but due to height, could only reach his chest. The white-haired youth didn't mind. He just said calmly: "My successor, can you love this world for me?"
Though he looked like a youth, his words were full of love and nostalgia, like an elder looking at a long-lost junior, uttering heartfelt sentiments.
Without waiting for Joshua's answer, the 'Sage' smiled faintly, then dissolved into nothingness. The black illusion space rapidly shifted, reverting to normal darkness caused by closed eyes.
The warrior slowly opened his eyes. This was a private room in a Church of the Seven Gods temple. He was wearing a loose robe like a patient's. Beside him, the Divine Mechanism siblings and the dragon girl stood nervously nearby. The massive steel elemental Chu Hao stood at the door due to its size, not entering, but it also bent down, watching the warrior's bed with its single eye.
Seeing Joshua awake, Ying was the first to throw herself into the warrior's arms. He could feel moisture flowing on his chest and hear faint sobbing. Hei let out a sigh, then flopped onto the bed, pressing down on the warrior's legs. Lin was the calmest, but also seemed to have a great weight lifted, her body going limp as if she might collapse to her knees.
Patting the head of the girl in his arms, Joshua showed a gentle smile completely unlike his usual image. He began to comfort everyone, expressing that he was unharmed.
But for some reason, the warrior could always faintly hear a voice echoing in his ears, as if sighing, as if blessing.
—All of this.
—The beings I cherish.