Chapter 23: Heart Surging with Excitement
The battle that took place in the Imperial Capital over half a month ago had already spread throughout the entire empire.
The Three Mountains Imperial Capital was located in the central plains of the north, connecting the north and south as well as the western desert. It was the political and commercial center of the empire. Every day, thousands of merchant caravans arrived at the satellite towns or marketplaces at the foot of the Three Mountains to trade. At the same time, they would bring news from various places, or take news to other regions.
The battle between the Imperial Emperor Israel and the Northern Count Joshua was undoubtedly a major event worth discussing over drinks. In just a few days, the traveling merchant caravans and urgent magical transmissions had spread the news to all well-informed nobles and major merchant guilds. After another week, even farmers busy with the harvest had a general understanding of the matter.
The name Joshua once again became the center of conversation. As an Ultimate-rank, he dared to challenge a Legendary expert. Although he was defeated, he returned completely unscathed. In a sense, this kind of event could also be considered a legend. Of course, everyone knew that His Majesty the Emperor had held back, but it was still enough to be a topic of lively discussion.
The wind and elemental fluctuations that swept away the rain clouds, brought down heavy rain, and swept across the entire Three Mountains region, along with the high temperature like a second sun descending. Even just the aftershocks were like this. For ordinary people who had rarely seen true experts in action, this battle could give them a slight understanding of the power of Transcendent beings above Gold-rank.
However, commoners could ignore the reasons why Joshua and Israel fought, only caring about the powerful strength displayed in their clash, but the nobles could not do the same. Compared to Joshua once again displaying extraordinary strength, the leaders of most families wanted to know why the head of the Radcliffe family, one of the pillars of the Imperial faction, would fight with the empire's ruler.
Because no one had blocked the news, they quickly learned the truth and sorted out the general course of events.
First, due to competition from the Radcliffe family, the Feltao family's weapon sales industry in the northern and eastern regions had suffered a certain blow. At the same time, numerous small families and the prestigious Suwold family had also been damaged. Because the Northern Count was at the Holy Mountain at the time, seemingly missing, the Feltao family decided to directly coerce and negotiate with the managers of the Radcliffe family's industries.
Clearly, the coercion was unsuccessful, so this manager was assassinated. Seeing this, basically most nobles had no psychological fluctuations. Although this kind of thing was underhanded and looked down upon by many long-established major families and prestigious names, it was not considered an unacceptable means, belonging to part of the unspoken rules.
However, what happened next was a bit interesting. The news of this manager's assassination seemed to be obstructed in some way and was not immediately reported to the Northern Count. By the time the Count learned of this, most of his subordinates in the Imperial Capital were already dead—those foolish Feltao family dwarves thought Joshua was afraid of them, so they didn't hold back at all, instead killing more and more enthusiastically.
Then, Joshua rushed to the Imperial Capital and killed the second son of the Suwold family and three formal members of the Feltao family—if not for the fact that His Majesty the Emperor happened to be in the Imperial Capital at the time and intervened to stop him, the angry Count might have done as he said, rushing to the Feltao territory in the northwest of the empire to kill six people, one life for one life.
"Remember, tell those people they still owe me two lives." These were the words the head of the Radcliffe family said when leaving the Imperial Capital. He didn't seem to have killed enough. If Israel hadn't stopped Joshua from continuing to kill, forcibly ordering him to be confined to the Northern lands for a year, then this Count would have undoubtedly gone to find trouble with the Feltao family.
This matter spread unusually quickly among the nobles. Some dismissed it, some raised an eyebrow, most were wary of the Northern Count who personally took action at the slightest disagreement, and among the remaining small portion, half clapped in approval, while the other half gnashed their teeth in anger.
There was no need to say more about those gnashing their teeth—only the two families who had suffered casualties. Although they were furious at the deaths of their family members, they had no channel to vent—nominally, Israel had already taught the other party a lesson and forcibly ordered Joshua to be confined for half a year. For an Ultimate-rank expert who could fight a Legendary, this was already considered a very severe punishment.
Secondly, they couldn't defeat him, and there was no way to retaliate.
Not being able to defeat him was natural. According to the speculation of the advisory group, after the Holy Mountain Mad Dragon War and the fight with His Majesty the Emperor, this Northern Count's combat power had been judged as the highest level among Ultimate-ranks, surpassing many other established Ultimate-ranks. Even among the five legion commanders, few could match him. No one would deny this, not even his enemies. Joshua's achievements were there for all to see and couldn't be faked.
There was also no way to retaliate, which was actually not surprising. Before the four Northern territories opened their teleportation network half a year ago, they were basically in a state of isolation from the outside world. Their trade with the outside relied on dragon cart merchants and the Mezhe River that never froze, and they directly traded with the Imperial Royal Family and the five directly subordinate legions. The Feltao family really couldn't think of any way to retaliate against this Northern Count who was impervious to any approach.
The further spread of his reputation brought Joshua higher prestige. Many powerful adventurers who didn't care much about current affairs and wholeheartedly took risks in the mountains and forests also learned of his name. Many adventure teams and mercenary groups, purely out of curiosity to see what this Count, known as the 'strongest' Ultimate-rank, looked like, chose to explore the areas around the Great Aias Mountains.
Because of this, even though the early winter snow had already fallen, adventurers and mercenaries heading to the Northern Moldavia were still coming in an endless stream.
For Joshua, the so-called confinement meant nothing.
For the next half year, the Northern lands would be extremely cold. As the lord, he had to stay here anyway, always on guard against the Black Forest Black Tide. As the dean of Winterfell Academy, he also had to prepare with Nostradamus for the next academy assessment at the beginning of summer, not to mention the establishment of the Rune Factory and the production of Mana Armor.
According to the schedule, if there were no sudden major events like the trip to the Abyss of Anos, the warrior would be very busy for the next year and wouldn't have time to go out. The nearest major events were the Harvest Festival and the arrival of the Nature Mentor and his group at any time.
Starfall Era 834, October 5th, Northern Moldavia, Great Aias Mountains.
At the volcanic cave that had long been submerged by backflowing lava, a team of mages and workers wearing simple Mana Armor were working. The mages used spells like Stone to Mud and Telekinesis to quickly excavate passages, while the workers equipped with armor resistant to high temperatures and fire elements carried out inert rocks and ores unaffected by magic.
Guided by magic, they dug quickly and in the right direction. The team avoided every lava channel and dangerous mana-concentrated area, and the powerful output of the Mana Armor ensured the workers' efficiency and progress.
These people were the engineering team sent by Joshua to excavate the teleportation passage to the Ilgena World. Due to the attack of the Calamity Evil God, the Sigma Volcano had completely disappeared. The teleportation passage located in the lava cave beneath the Great Aias Volcano was temporarily sealed, with backflowing lava filling the entire cave, so that the surface cave entrance was all solidified volcanic rock.
To ensure that this teleportation passage connecting the two worlds could be excavated before the Nature Mentor arrived, Joshua sent several academy mentors and association mages who were studying the Black Blood Plague. He even had several knights from the knight order put on armor to work as excavation laborers.
Protected by Mana Armor, these Silver-rank knights could temporarily ignore magma. The efficiency of the two teams of Transcendent beings working together was so terrifying that in less than half a day, they had already completed a quarter of the goal, approaching the deep underground cave where the original space-time passage was located. They also discovered a rich deposit of fire elemental crystals along the way.
In the evening, the day's work temporarily ended. The team leader, a dwarf familiar with the volcanic region, used magical communication to report the work progress to Joshua, who was far away in the main city of Moldavia. He truthfully reported the situation and then waited for further instructions.
Regarding this, the warrior had nothing much to say. Besides encouraging their work enthusiasm, he could only ask them to pay more attention to safety issues during work.
After ending the call, Joshua put down the communication array and returned his spirit to the inside of his body.
At this moment, he was in the study of the Lord's Mansion, quietly meditating alone.
In his battle with Israel, although he was indeed defeated, the warrior had actually learned a lot from that brief exchange.
A Legendary's exquisite and subtle energy control and impeccable timing of attacks gave Joshua a new understanding. This was a combat technique different from his own, with extremely high reference value. Not to mention the final move where Israel transformed his will into a physical form, turning his bare hand into a lance for a thrusting strike.
This was completely different from the power he had once mastered, a power from another system. The ability to freely convert between will and battle qi was so exquisite that in Joshua's eyes, it could be called an art.
He knew that the secret of converting between the two must contain the mystery by which Israel advanced to Legendary. He needed to seriously study and reference it.
As for the system, the warrior felt that relying on the system all the time was too dangerous. A person indeed needed a second option.
Sitting in the chair, the warrior slightly opened his eyes after temporarily ending his meditation, a hint of subconscious urgency in his gaze.
He was already an Ultimate-rank expert, one of the most powerful people at the peak of this world. Except for Legendary experts and the gods, the warrior had no rivals on this land. Now, only one thing could make him feel a sense of crisis and show such an expression.
The Magic Tide.
"The Magic Tide is approaching..." Whispering these two words softly, Joshua stood up from his seat and walked to the window of the Lord's Mansion. Looking down at Ying and Hei, who were happily playing with two little girls downstairs, he calmly muttered to himself: "Indeed, the experts of this world have long noticed this matter."
The so-called Magic Tide generally referred to the annual great beast tide from the Central Black Forest. Countless terrifying magical beasts would surge out from the depths of the deep magical forest, attacking the civilized world. The empire's southern fortress group and the large isolation zone on the Eastern Plains were all specially built defenses against the Magic Tide.
But clearly, the Magic Tide Israel spoke of was not this ordinary beast tide. What he referred to was the Great Magic Tide that swept through the multiverse, stirring up elemental tides in countless worlds.
In this vast and boundless multiverse, the peak of energy was not constant. In the past few millennia, the energy level of the entire world had been relatively stable, with both rises and declines being relatively gentle. But now, the approaching Great Magic Tide meant that in a short time, the energy concentration of the entire Mycroft World would rapidly reach its peak.
What did this mean?
It meant too many things.
The surging elements would completely change everything in this world. All things would be soaked in a high-concentration mana environment, just like the beginning of creation when the first batch of beings experienced. Countless magical beasts, plants, and even various intelligent races would undergo beneficial atavistic phenomena. Countless powerful ancient beings would escape their precarious existence and begin normal reproduction and survival. Minerals in the earth would become richer and more valuable. Ordinary people sensing energy and advancing to Black Iron Revelation would become countless times easier than before.
The entire world's level would be forcibly raised by one or two levels on its original basis. At that time, although the Gold realm would still be rare, it would definitely not be like now, where in a large empire with a population of hundreds of millions, only a few thousand could reach this realm. The average level of adult dragons would also rise to Gold-rank, making them a true Gold-rank race.
At that time, countless previously dormant geniuses would gush out like a spring, and the entire continent would enter its most prosperous era, catching up to the footsteps of the previous civilization in just a few decades.
Of course, these were the good aspects. Joshua blinked, then turned his head to look at the distant location of the Black Forest.
And the bad aspects were equally terrifying.
If intelligent beings could enjoy the benefits of increased mana concentration, then magical beasts could too. Even more so, being more wild and closer to the essence of violent mana, they would gain even more. When the Great Magic Tide descended, before everyone had time to adapt to the terrifying mana concentration, the endless magical beasts in the Black Forest would have already gotten used to this new power and be eager to move. They would swarm out, attacking unprepared major forces with several times their previous strength.
This was a natural disaster. The warrior was not actually afraid of those beasts. He believed that under his leadership, Moldavia, and even the entire Northern lands, would not suffer any losses from the Black Tide of the Great Aias Mountains.
What he was concerned about was man-made disaster.
When unconstrained power spread, ambition would spread. In the few months after the Magic Tide descended in his previous life, the originally stable post-war situation in the four major human settlements was broken. Cultists declared this was a precursor to divine descent, the horn of the apocalypse, and demon summoners found they could more easily call upon the power from the abyss.
The increase in mana level did not only benefit good people. The power of pirates and mountain bandits in various places would naturally receive a fair increase. Because the environment became suitable, originally dormant necromancers would also awaken from their long sleep in tombs and return to this world. Along with them, countless ancient inheritances would also descend.
Of course, the most important thing was not these.
Joshua withdrew his gaze from the silver-haired girl and the black dragon girl, raised his head, and looked at the sky. The warrior's eyes seemed to pierce through the void, seeing the Boundless Heaven beyond the world and the gods within it.
The Great Magic Tide meant many things.
But nothing was more significant than this matter.
"The descent of the gods."
The warrior muttered to himself: "Humans and gods living together on the earth."
Speaking here, he paused slightly, then the corner of his mouth curled into a slightly excited smile.
"Truly, a great era that makes one's heart surge with excitement."