Chapter 13: Titan's Body, Westward Journey!
Urban Denny refused Joshua's request.
This was only natural—no living being would willingly open up their body structure to a relative stranger, exposing their most vulnerable side to another.
"That's impossible."
The giant shook its head and refused bluntly: "If I said I wanted to see the location of every energy node and vital point on your entire body, you wouldn't agree either..."
Mid-sentence, Urban Denny abruptly shut its mouth.
Because before it, Joshua curled the corners of his lips and casually spread his arms.
A crimson light flared around the warrior's body. Over three thousand blazingly bright energy nodes, flowing with the movement of Life Energy, shifted and moved across his entire body, rapidly changing their positions and sizes. No matter how they changed, the nodes around Joshua's heart and brain were always brighter than the rest—unquestionably, these were the warrior's central vital points.
"What's wrong with showing you?"
Afraid Urban Denny hadn't seen clearly, Joshua even pointed to his heart and brain: "These two places are my vital points. If you could destroy them, even with my vitality, it would take a long time to regenerate—long enough for you to kill me many times over."
"No, I mean..." The massive Treant covered its forehead with a hand, its tone sounding deeply conflicted, as if unsure what to say: "Your openness truly exceeds my imagination. I roughly understand your meaning—you believe that as a strong individual, showing others your weaknesses doesn't matter, because if their strength is insufficient, they can't exploit them anyway..."
Over three thousand energy nodes, constantly shifting and changing, were utterly unpredictable in their movements. The heart and brain were obviously the most critical points—even a fool knew these were weaknesses. Joshua openly revealed his vital points to Urban Denny, yet the giant found itself unable to use this information to target the warrior.
"Forget it." Shaking its head, Urban Denny decided not to dwell on this topic further. It felt it had probably been outmaneuvered by Joshua. It twisted its massive body, formed from countless tree roots, and its single purple flame eye flickered: "Warrior, why do you want to observe my body structure? If you can give me a good reason and compensation, I might not refuse."
"I want to understand the source of Titan power by observing your body structure."
Joshua was indeed someone too lazy to hide his thoughts. He stated his purpose directly, eyes blazing: "After all, where I come from, Titans have been extinct for a thousand years."
On the Mycroft Continent, many species had long since vanished, and Titans were among them. The Earth God's Children, once glorious, now only had a few Elemental Titans lingering in the various elemental planes. Mountain Titans could only be seen in trials within the Divine Calamity Mist.
Of course, not long from now, in the 'Great Expansion Era' after the Great Magic Tide descended, a vampire adventurer from the Western Mountains would discover the remains of a Mountain Titan in the Dark City ruins of the Central Black Forest. In fact, the entire Dark City was built upon that Titan's bones—but a long-dead Titan's skeleton couldn't compare to a living, moving Titan.
"Want to obtain Titan power..."
Urban Denny wasn't surprised by this reason. In truth, humans had never stopped trying to imitate Titan power. Even earlier, that Shadow Caster controlling the crystal puppets—the three crystal puppets he controlled had, to some extent, imitated the body structures of Elemental Giants, the descendants of Titans. And this had indeed brought them considerable power.
"Although this reason is too ordinary, I'm not necessarily unwilling to agree..."
Urban Denny pondered for a long time, and Joshua patiently waited. After nearly ten minutes, the giant finally spoke in a rumbling voice: "But warrior, are you willing to swear an oath never to reveal this information to outsiders, and agree to do one thing for me?"
"Of course I can agree to the first request. As for the second, tell me what it is first."
Joshua sensed the Titan's tone softening. He smiled slightly and said casually: "As long as it's not too excessive, I can probably agree."
The giant's dark brown tree-face, formed from roots, twisted into an indescribable smile: "Don't worry, it's nothing difficult... I just want you to help me kill a few people."
As the warrior raised an eyebrow, gazing at him thoughtfully, Urban Denny said softly: "If you can swear an oath to kill those three Undead Commanders who tried to kill me earlier, then I am willing to reveal the source of Titan Giant power."
Having said this, it fell silent, waiting for Joshua's reply.
This time, it was the warrior's turn to think.
But Joshua didn't actually ponder for long—to be precise, he was only stunned for a few seconds out of surprise before replying decisively: "Alright, no problem."
Hearing such a simple and straightforward answer, Urban Denny found it hard to believe: "Wait, you just agreed like that? Do you really know..."
"Huh?" "Master, you just agreed like that?!" Even the two Divine Mechanisms floating behind him exclaimed in the spiritual link.
"Of course I know what this implies."
Ignoring the others' incredulous tones, Joshua shrugged.
Although many thought he, Joshua, was just a brute who relied on overwhelming force to solve every problem with violence, he actually understood the situation perfectly and could grasp the deeper meaning in others' words.
The Titan Urban Denny, for reasons unknown, hadn't helped the people of this world resolve the Shadow Calamity, but it undoubtedly bore goodwill toward most living beings. In the surrounding Saya Mountains, the warrior could sense countless life auras impossible to detect elsewhere—many animals and magical beasts dwelling here, sheltered by this Earth God's Child, undisturbed by the outside Shadows.
Not knowing that Urban Denny couldn't move and could only stay in place, the warrior fully understood that Urban Denny wanted him to kill those Shadow Commanders not only to avenge the earlier attack but also to draw him into its camp, forcing him to fight the other four Shadow Commanders. After all, killing one of their members meant the other Shadow Commanders couldn't ignore it. Thus, Joshua would either have to slaughter all seven powerful Shadows or be killed by them.
The Titan's scheming wasn't deep—like the warrior, it openly stated its demands and watched how Joshua would choose. If Joshua was afraid, then observing its body structure would be dropped. If Joshua agreed, then revealing the source of Titan power to this future ally to enhance their strength wasn't an unacceptable choice.
But Urban Denny had miscalculated only one thing: even if it hadn't mentioned it, Joshua had no intention of letting that Shadow Commander with the Fusion Core Star-like self-destruction technique go. The reason he had been stunned was simply that he hadn't expected the Titan's request to be so easy—exactly matching what he already wanted to do.
As for fear, terror... what were those?
Seeing the utter fearlessness on Joshua's face, Urban Denny, for some reason, felt its originally somewhat doubtful heart ease considerably.
He is a strong one bearing the Saint's Relic, from 'that one's' homeland, also my homeland.
The giant thought: "Those who bear the Saint's Relic should be like this. Perhaps I can trust him."
"Then, swear the oath."
The giant said this, its body formed from countless tree roots slowly sinking into the rock and soil. It said softly: "Then, you will see the source of Titan power."
And the next moment.
After Joshua swore the oath with his soul.
The already heavily damaged earth was once again shaken by a vast force. As the main peak of the Saya Mountains slowly trembled, strange flesh pillars, a hundred meters tall, seemingly a combination of flesh and plants, appeared before the warrior's eyes.
At this moment, heavy rain still fell over the Dark River Forest. The clouds above, though thinned by the earlier battle, still blocked the sunlight, churning across the sky. But just then, as these flesh pillars emerged on the earth, the boundless clouds began to collapse downward.
Endless rain, infinite mist, and seemingly limitless clouds surged toward the earth, toward those flesh pillars, and then, before Joshua's eyes, condensed into a colossal cloud giant.
"I am the Titan, Urban Denny, descendant of the gods."
Because its body was entirely composed of water mist, the form and structure of the flesh pillars supporting the giant's body were now clearly visible. This time, Urban Denny held nothing back, fully revealing its power.
Titans were such peculiar lifeforms.
Their true bodies were actually massive root systems, like tree roots, plunging into the earth and spreading through every corner of the land. Normally, they breathed with the entire world, bearing mountains, forests, lakes, and even cities. In ancient times, many cities were built upon Titan bodies. Humans worshipped Titans, and Titans protected humans—just like in the Central Black Forest, in the Dark City ruins.
When battle was needed, Titans would use their true bodies as cores, gathering surrounding elements to shape enormous humanoid combat forms. Elemental Titans naturally gathered elements of their attribute, while pure-blooded giants, Mountain Titans with divine blood, would gather whatever they wished to form their bodies—whether earth, rock, metal, fire, water, lightning, wind, or mist—all could be incorporated into their bodies, transformed into their power.
This kind of near-perfect power was what Joshua needed.
Urban Denny revealed this power. Now, its body, composed mainly of mist, was completely unguarded and unobscured. The warrior gazed at the giant's form, then took a deep breath.
Black-red Battle Qi, like fire burning in the abyss, light blooming in darkness—a vast, black-red Life Energy began to gather around Joshua like a sea tsunami. In the next instant, a colossal giant appeared before the Titan.
Ten meters, twenty meters, fifty meters, a hundred meters, a hundred and fifty meters—though this height couldn't compare to the over four-hundred-meter water mist Titan, this massive body was entirely condensed from the warrior's Life Energy. The six-armed giant's eyes blazed with brilliant crimson light, tinging the Saya Mountains with a faint red hue.
Battle Qi Steel Armor!
A legendary-rank combat technique that imitated powerful beings to gain their power!
Although Joshua had never learned or inherited this technique, his combat instinct told him this was the perfect way to learn. As long as he could use his Life Energy to imitate the Titan's current body structure, it meant he could also obtain part of the Titan's power!
"Warrior, Titan advancement has two paths."
The water mist giant's voice now seemed ethereal and hollow, as if descending from the clouds, with layered echoes. It spoke in a serious tone, earnestly explaining to Joshua: "One is to transform into earth roots, making one's body increasingly vast, eventually becoming a Mountain Giant like me."
"The second is to condense one's body, increasing its density, ultimately forming an indestructible, imperishable form."
"I chose the first path, but the second is more meaningful for you—so, I will later demonstrate my second form."
At this moment, Joshua, having condensed his Battle Qi Steel Armor, was imitating every important energy node and body structure of the Titan before him at an unimaginable speed.
Thick energy channels began to form within the originally empty Battle Qi Steel Armor, which had only contained Life Energy. They imitated the Titan's flesh-and-blood roots, simulating the flow of energy nodes, filling every corner of the Steel Armor's interior. Gradually, this originally hollow-looking Battle Qi Steel Armor began to develop bones, flesh, blood vessels, nerves, and a solid body structure.
Two of the Life Energy giant's six arms had become incredibly solid. Though merely a phantom formed from pure Life Energy, they now bore a metallic luster. Joshua wasn't surprised—one punch from this could shatter a mountain peak into countless fragments!
Just then, the cloud giant before him let out a thunderous roar.
Countless blue-white lightning bolts erupted from the infinite water mist composing the Titan's body. These leaping arcs flickered within Urban Denny's form, transforming it into a blazing Thunder Giant in an instant. But then, the giant's body gradually shrank, the lightning becoming denser, until finally, it condensed to only a hundred and fifty meters—the same size as Joshua's Life Energy giant.
At this point, Urban Denny's lightning gradually faded, reverting to its original water mist form. But now, the water mist composing the Titan's body was no longer transparent—it was a deep, semi-transparent black liquid, like the depths of the sea.
"My second form—I haven't studied it deeply. Learn what you can..."
Urban Denny's words stopped again.
The giant had interrupted itself countless times today, but now wasn't the time to care about that. It stared in shock at the Life Energy giant Joshua had become, as if witnessing something unbelievable.
This Life Energy giant was also shrinking!
The massive, mountain-like Life Energy giant, after observing the Titan's compression and contraction of its own form, seemed to gain some insight—as if the missing piece of a puzzle had been found. It let out a silent laugh. Joshua's eyes burned with fervor—he knew this was what he wanted!
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, the Life Energy giant began a frenzied compression. And not just Life Energy—having watched the Titan's first form gather surrounding water mist for its use, the warrior simultaneously drew in surrounding magical elements. Earth elements, wind elements, air elements, fire elements—all ambient free energy, as if plunging into a black hole, began to converge endlessly toward Joshua's body.
A hundred and fifty meters! A hundred and thirty meters! A hundred meters! Fifty meters! Twenty meters! Ten meters!
The Life Energy giant was compressed by Joshua to a mere ten meters in size! Now, the Battle Qi Steel Armor truly lived up to its name. A black-red, metallic-lustered six-armed Battle Qi giant stood upon the earth. Its body was so heavy that it cracked the rocky ground beneath it into radiating fissures. Vast power fluctuations spilled outward, stirring the surrounding earth and stone, causing them to float anti-gravitationally, orbiting the warrior like satellites.
Urban Denny watched this scene—a human perfectly simulating the Titan's two forms in just a few minutes. It didn't know what to say, so it remained silent.
But Joshua was still unsatisfied.
"Not enough!"
Seeing the Power Liberation level in the corner of his eye jump to fifty-seven percent, about to approach sixty percent, a flash of insight crossed Joshua's mind: "So-called Power Liberation is just the potential of this body, not my former power—if I fully unleash this body's strength and perfectly wield Steel Force, that's when I reach one hundred percent and advance to Legendary!"
Though his Power Liberation was only sixty percent, Joshua's combat power could already match his former peak. Yet he felt there was still room for improvement!
Completely retract the entire Life Energy giant into his own body!
Using all his control, he compressed the body bit by bit. With a crisp sound like shattering glass, the Life Energy giant, originally over ten meters tall, was compressed again to under ten meters. At this point, the warrior's entire body had turned black, like true metal, its surface reflecting a silvery-red light.
"The homeland of the Atmospheric Evil God... the method those cloud energy lifeforms use to compress themselves!"
Recalling the memories of the Atmospheric Evil God seen in the Moldova ruins, Joshua immediately understood—this was the compression method he needed! Beings composed entirely of energy and gas giant atmospheres were naturally similar to his current Battle Qi Steel Armor. Their method of compressing themselves to pass through the terrifying storms of gas giants, storms capable of swallowing ordinary rocky planets, was undoubtedly the most powerful and perfect energy compression method in this world!
"Creeeak—groan!!!"
The sound of twisting steel echoed through the mountains. The Steel Armor, condensed from infinite external free energy and all of Joshua's Battle Qi and Life Energy, began to collapse and compress inward, inch by inch. This was a lengthy process. Hours later, the black, solid Battle Qi shell finally fully merged into the warrior's body.
By now, it was deep night. The rain and mist had been absorbed into Urban Denny's body, so dim blue moonlight shone upon the earth.
After a long time, the warrior opened his eyes.
He looked utterly exhausted, as if he had fought a great battle against seven or eight strong beings like He Er La Si.
"How is it?"
Urban Denny, now in its tree-root giant form, stood before him, looking at Joshua with an unreadable expression: "How do you feel?"
"...Very good. Thank you."
Nodding slightly, Joshua looked at the Power Liberation level, which had broken through to sixty percent, and understood his path forward.
Compressing his own energy was largely achieved. Next, he needed to learn how to fuse other elements and also perfect his physical body. The warrior realized that the vast energy compressed and bound within him was only the first step toward Legendary. What he needed was to learn how to freely control his form—to transform into a hundred-meter giant at will, and revert to his original form at will, without any stagnation, and certainly not needing hours to roughly recover as he did now.
Steel Force was the power of all origins. Simply meeting the energy threshold was meaningless. Next, Joshua had to rapidly advance his physical body as well, condensing it into a form worthy of this power. Absorbing the energy from the Saint Stone Seeds was one shortcut to rapidly increase the warrior's body density and energy density.
"Speaking of which, those Undead Commanders should have Saint Stone Seeds on them, right?"
Joshua suddenly looked up and asked Urban Denny.
"...Of course."
The giant was stunned for a moment, then quickly replied. It seemed to understand the warrior's intent and revealed a stiff smile: "That Shadow Caster controlling the crystal puppets earlier—it and its puppets each had one, four in total."
"I see."
Joshua nodded in satisfaction.
His eyes burned with fervor.
Pursuers of the Fourth Sage's relic holder, wanted by the Titan Giant, carrying so many Saint Stone Seeds.
Most importantly, they were all strong—once the undisputed great heroes and champions of this world.
—Fight them?
How could he pass up this opportunity!
The warrior could find no reason to refuse.
And the weapons behind him, as if sensing their master's burning heart, began to emit a faint hum.
It was night.
The warrior bid farewell to the Titan and journeyed westward.