# Chapter 4: Heroic Spirit
In the dead of night, urgent bell sounds rang through the town of Yalen.
Accompanied by chaotic footsteps that gradually became orderly, countless villagers hurriedly carrying swords and donning armor poured into the streets. They spontaneously gathered into small squads, forming formations. Among them, a considerable number of spellcasters capable of flight rose from houses near the town center, arriving at various groups in an instant to urgently relay commands.
"Seventh Squad Leader, Davian's trading squad has not yet returned, but their soul lights have not been extinguished. Rescue operations are now commencing."
The spellcasters' announcements were concise, and the town's villagers—or rather, semi-professional soldiers—acted with remarkable efficiency. They seemed accustomed to such matters. The massive force split into three parts in an instant: one group organized weapons and armor, preparing to leave the town for search; another occupied defensive positions within the town for fortification; while the last remained on standby. Several leaders broke away from the formation and strode into the shrine at the town center.
"The trading location is too far..."
A villager left behind to prepare defensive work sighed helplessly, speaking to a companion beside him: "Especially the raw crystal trade that little Davian handles. Even the nearest trading point requires deep penetration into the mountains. If anything goes slightly wrong, there's no way they can return smoothly."
"Isn't that the truth." The companion nodded in agreement: "That girl Davian used to be quite pretty, but after years of fighting, she's covered in scars. Those Death Shadows don't care whether you're a woman or not."
Their concerns were completely different, yet they could still continue their conversation. One of them was about to say something from the watchtower when Joshua saw her expression—she seemed to want to step forward and explain. The warrior was never a malicious person, so he straightforwardly let their entire squad return to the village while he remained outside, waiting for further negotiations.
Back in the village, Davian and her squad members were surrounded by a group of extremely anxious village leaders.
"Little Davian, what's going on?!"
A gray-haired middle-aged man, around fifty years old with a warhammer at his waist, exhaled deeply. He embraced the bitter-smiling female knight and asked in a serious tone: "How did your squad bring back such a terrifying... such an existence?!"
When he spoke, his voice still carried a tremor.
Beside him, a noticeably younger male spellcaster gripped his staff tightly and sighed: "The village's energy detection crystal exploded the moment it tried to scan him. That existence's power has at least surpassed the Second Energy Level, reaching the First Sequence."
The spellcaster's tone had already dropped its vigilance. He understood that against a powerhouse who might be at the First Sequence, Davian and her team had no means of resistance. The fact that the other party hadn't forced entry but waited outside the village for negotiations was itself the greatest sign of goodwill.
"How exactly did you come into contact with this existence?" The gray-haired man asked impatiently.
"Uncle Bolt, Uncle Alan." Davian smiled bitterly: "This matter is simply too strange... I still feel like I'm dreaming."
Everyone in Yalen Town were members of the Astoria family. The female knight and these two village leaders were relatives. She concealed nothing, recounting everything she had encountered in Autumn Water Forest and her inner thoughts.
"Whew..." Bolt, the gray-haired man, exhaled deeply, his brow furrowed but most of his earlier tension gone: "Just the residual energy waves from his presence cleared out all those ancient warriors sleeping in Autumn Water Forest? All the Death Shadows encountered along the way were casually destroyed? Even the prehistoric giant beast's undead fell to a single punch?"
The female knight nodded solemnly. Watching that scene, she felt her eyes would pop out from shock.
Seeing this, Bolt smiled bitterly: "Little Davian, do you know what this means? Even the First Sequence can't do these things. Only those legendary 'Heroes' and ancient 'Heroic Spirits' can accomplish such feats."
"Honestly, based on what you've said, with this lord's power, annihilating our village would be but a single thought."
Beside him, Alan shook his head softly: "I don't doubt that—any existence that can make a detection crystal explode the moment it begins scanning can certainly do so. But I'm wondering, what exactly is he? Emerging from a blue-black rift... this doesn't match the scene of a Heroic Spirit's awakening."
None of the three considered the warrior to be human, so they collectively ignored that possibility. From this similar thinking pattern, they were indeed a family.
"It seems."
After a long silence, the other village leaders gradually obtained the information they needed from other squad members. Centered around Bolt and Alan, they seemed to reach the same decision.
"We can only awaken the ancestor."
Outside the village, Joshua, who had been waiting quietly, was now browsing the language comparison table provided by the system.
The straightforward warrior had momentarily forgotten he had such a thing as a system. When encountering an unknown language, his initial thought was to follow the locals to their village and learn. But it turned out that using the system's internal vocabulary translations and basic grammar learning was infinitely simpler than doing it the hard way.
[Grandia World Humanoid Common Language]
[Grandia World, the commonly used language of humanoid beings. Even non-humanoid beings, except for a small number of reclusive races, mostly learn this language for convenient daily trade and communication.]
In just the time spent traveling, the warrior had already learned basic communication. Using the system's vocabulary translations, he could roughly speak the Grandia World language.
However, just as Joshua was studying seriously, he suddenly raised his head, looking toward the very center of the town.
The pitch-black night sky was illuminated by Yalen Town's lights. At this moment, countless pale golden light particles rose from every villager. These particles gathered the free-floating elements in the atmosphere, carrying the energy scattered between heaven and earth, then all submerged into the shrine at the town center.
The warrior's crimson eyes burned with flames like fire. This light pierced through the void, through rock walls and countless burning life flames, meeting the gaze of a powerful will that was gradually awakening.
"Powerful one."
A warm yet aged voice rose in the warrior's heart. It was ancient Grandia Common Language. The powerful will spoke calmly: "Thank you for protecting my descendants."
Responding to this voice rising from his heart, a humanoid form began to condense before the warrior. This form was composed of countless light particles, finally coalescing into the appearance of an old man.
This was a powerful swordsman who, though aged, still possessed an imposing sharpness. His long hair flowed like beams of light, and at his waist hung a longsword with lightning flickering on its scabbard. In the light swordsman's eye sockets were not human eyes, but two blazing golden flames.
Though in human form, in the warrior's eyes, the other was a divine sword capable of cutting through anything. The longsword at his waist had not yet been drawn, but Joshua instinctively knew that in less than a moment—faster than thought could process—this swordsman could draw it and cleave through anything.
"Interesting."
Meeting those two golden flames, Joshua couldn't help but grin: "Are you the protector of this town?"
In a situation where undead invasions were frequent, maintaining such a large village in the mountains without a powerful protector was simply unbelievable.
His expression looked somewhat excited.
The warrior naturally felt excitement.
Because this old man before him gave Joshua a sense of danger he hadn't felt in a long time—power sufficient to threaten his life.
Although this sense of danger only appeared after the warrior's power was sealed by nearly sixty percent, it also meant that this light swordsman, who hadn't released his full aura, could fight on par with Joshua at full power if he exerted himself completely.
Ultimate Peak!
Just casually following a small caravan to their hometown, and encountering a powerhouse of this level—could it be that the Grandia World had even more experts than the Mycroft Continent?
"Indeed."
Before the warrior could continue pondering, this light swordsman with Ultimate Peak strength had already spoken, using a calm and friendly tone: "I am the protector of this village, the Heroic Spirit 'Earth-Splitting Sword,' Yalen Astoria."
"Then, powerful one, where do you come from? And what do you intend to do in this mountain town?"
The old man who called himself a Heroic Spirit asked thus.
Joshua nodded and answered directly: "Joshua van Radcliffe, a warrior from another world."
The warrior's Grandia Common Language was not fluent, but every word carried enough force to make anyone overlook his pronunciation and grammar issues: "I came here to obtain information about this world and to find something."
Upon hearing this, the old Heroic Spirit was momentarily stunned.
Unlike his descendants, as Yalen—a Sword Saint who had shaken the continent, spread his fame far and wide, and even become a legend in life—he could naturally see Joshua's extraordinary identity. Whether it was the energy circulation system within this powerful warrior that was completely incompatible with this world, or his complete lack of reaction upon hearing Joshua's name, all proved that the other came from some unknown region, or even from outside.
But he hadn't expected the warrior to reveal his origins so straightforwardly.
However, for Joshua, this was perfectly normal.
The warrior had always detested beating around the bush. Even if he told these people and this Heroic Spirit that he came from another world, so what? Not to mention that this world seemed to be plagued by undead invasions, meaning a surviving village would never antagonize him. Even in a normal, prosperous world, locals encountering a powerful but non-hostile otherworldly being would never develop aversion from the start.
Since that was the case, rather than being evasive, it was better to state his purpose directly. Perhaps he might even receive better cooperation and obtain more meaningful information.
"Just wanting some information and looking for something, is it."
A smile appeared on the wrinkled face. The old man closed his eyes, then opened them again. The pale golden flames flickered slightly. He said softly: "Then you are our village's most honored guest."
Following the Heroic Spirit Yalen's words, the village's heavy wooden door slowly opened. The old man stepped aside, gesturing for the warrior to follow: "Come, powerful warrior named Joshua."
"I will tell you everything you wish to know."