Chapter 12: Divine Descent
A landscape completely different from the Mycroft Continent, a completely different atmosphere, and a completely different sky and earth.
Compared to that world which had just recovered from ruin, the scene before him overflowed with an aura named 'prosperity'.
Without a doubt, Joshua could conclude that this was the central continent of the Era of Radiance, the land most deeply etched in the memory of the River God Shinur. His entry had awakened the existence slumbering in the deepest part of the divine imprint, causing it to unfold its domain.
Standing on the riverbank where all rivers converged, Joshua placed one foot on a rock by the shore, watching the river flow. Ying and Lin, the siblings, followed him here. The master and his two servants stood in place, waiting in silence.
The rolling river flowed endlessly. It originated from the Miguel Highlands, the land of ten thousand mountains. The icy snow water, warmed by the sun, flowed along mountain gullies, gathered into streams in forest valleys, and countless such streams merged into one great river, finally forming this long river that spanned the entire central continent.
In the ancient past, the spirit of a god was conceived here. In its hazy state, it received the faith and prayers of all living beings, giving rise to a form similar to life. The Earth Mother Goddess enlightened it, ultimately causing this natural demigod to awaken its own divinity and ascend into a deity.
"Awakened."
Suddenly, Joshua spoke. His body leaned forward slightly, the spirit of the warrior rousing.
And with his words, from the whirlpools of the river, a hazy blue-green light rose. The water surged, coalescing into a massive body dozens of meters tall. The half-human, half-serpent River God rode the waves, appearing in the center of the vortex. His upper body was that of a man in scale armor holding a staff, while his lower body was a giant serpent formed from the river's flow. This young man with cyan hair turned his body, gazing at Joshua and the others on the riverbank. His eyes were hollow and empty, as if devoid of any intelligence.
And the entire illusory world changed with the gaze of this once-deity.
Noticing the ground beneath her feet rapidly becoming ethereal and shifting, Ying instinctively moved closer to the warrior. She grabbed Joshua's clothes, asking somewhat cautiously, "Where is this place?"
Lin also approached, pressing close behind the warrior, and asked softly, "What are you doing, Master?"
"This is the inherited divine domain of a deceased god."
Joshua replied. "And he is searching for my weaknesses, preparing to give me the most severe trial."
The warrior was not lying.
For different beings, the trials given by the Divine Calamity Mist were naturally of different levels. An ordinary person could not be equated with a professional, and Silver could never compare to Gold. If, for an Ultimate-rank expert participating in the trial, the remnant of the River God did not need to use its trump card, then the very existence of a Legendary expert was enough to warrant Shinur revealing his true form and going all out. Because at this moment, he was not a god in his prime, but the lingering thoughts of a long-dead deity.
Thus, the world shifted. Joshua could sense countless pieces of information flowing along the link between himself and the divine imprint, manifesting in this illusory world.
As if the wheel of time was rapidly reversing, the hazy world began to show fragmented scenes. First, it was the rapidly expanding main city of Moldavia, then the Radcliffe Family cemetery being relocated into the Great Aias Mountains. The remnant of the River God, located in the deepest imprint of the Divine Calamity Mist, began to analyze every detail in the warrior's memories, trying to find the weakness of this powerful trial-taker.
And Joshua did not resist. For some reason, he allowed the other party to browse through his memories.
Leading the survivors across the Ural Mountains, the contemplation within the Church of the Seven Gods, the conversation with Pope Eagle... Like a tape playing in fast rewind, scenes of the past flashed by. The surrounding environment changed from the surging river to deep mountain forests, distant sea grey islands, and the depths of the profound Star Temple.
The lens turned again. The abruptly changing world made the Divine Mechanism siblings somewhat uneasy. They instinctively grasped the warrior's hand, wanting to transform into weapon forms. Both Ying and Lin felt instinctively that as long as they fought alongside the warrior, they could face any unknown and challenge. But Joshua only held their hands tightly, without any intention of fighting.
The light and shadow continued to shift. Traveling through the void of the multiverse alongside the First Flame, falling into the silent darkness of the Grandia World, the battles with the old knight, the undead general, and the Titan. Under Joshua's calm gaze, one could even say his indulgence, the River God replayed everything clearly. But what the warrior had experienced was so heavy that even this remnant of a deity bore a tremendous burden.
At this moment, in the outside world, this was what appeared before everyone's eyes.
Near the merchant road not far from the Divine Calamity Mist, many adventurers and mercenaries who also wanted to explore the mist but dared not approach due to the risk lingered around the lake. They planned to wait for Joshua's group to leave, then buy some information about this mist that could make people unconscious for days from those knights and academy students, preparing for their future explorations.
But at this moment, more than ten minutes had passed since the warrior and his group entered the mist. The gathered adventurers had mostly fallen into silence. Except for a few who persisted in observing the mist's reactions, the vast majority had already spaced out or started chatting with each other.
But this oppressive situation changed with the exclamation of a mercenary who had been persistently observing.
"Heavens, the mist is glowing!"
The crowd immediately erupted in commotion. In an instant, countless eyes turned to look at the silver sea of mist not far away.
At this moment, the Divine Calamity Mist had undergone a tremendous change. Originally, the sea of mist covering several thousand square meters was extremely dense. An ordinary person entering it would completely disappear from sight after just a few meters, as if swallowed. But now, the mist was visibly thinning. At the edges, the figures of some weaker academy students who hadn't ventured deep into the mist could already be seen. Conversely, at the center of the mist, the incredibly dense fog had coalesced into a solid, slowly rotating 'sphere'. It emitted a bright blue-green light from the inside out, like a blue-green sun.
In a microscopic view imperceptible to ordinary people, this massive light sphere was actually composed of countless densely packed soul particles, each carrying a trace of divine power. They were frantically absorbing the surrounding free energy, linking together to calculate and think. These particles emitted a bright light, proving they were under high-intensity load.
At this moment, within the divine domain illusion, the replay of Joshua's memories had reached a very distant point. The silver-haired girl widened her eyes, watching every scene around her. Lin also gasped softly, because what they saw were scenes from before they had formed their contract with the warrior: the war with the orcs in Thomas Canyon, the military life within the Black Crow Legion, the studies at Miskatonic Officer Academy, the arduous training under the watch of the old steward and the old lord in the Moldavia Territory... The speed of the memory replay was getting faster and faster. Several years were compressed into just a few seconds of flashing images. In less than half a minute, the entire life of Joshua van Radcliffe had been browsed by this River God. But the trial for the warrior still had not appeared.
"Hmm..."
As if sensing his futile efforts, a trace of unwillingness appeared in the hollow eyes of the half-human, half-serpent Shinur. What remained now was merely the inherited imprint left by the former god. Finding the trial-taker's weaknesses and giving them the most suitable trial was its responsibility and instinct. But tracing all the way to the end of Joshua's memories, it still could not find any weakness in the man before him.
The temptation of money and power held no meaning. The bonds of women and friendship were as thin as water. Desires for fine food, fine wine, and all forms of enjoyment left no trace on this man. Purely in terms of desires, the man had reached the limit of detachment. Without an accident, no one could tempt him in this regard.
And in other aspects, whether it was physical strength, skill, will, spirit, wisdom, or even luck, the man was above average. Even if there were occasional flaws, they were not something that Shinur, a born god, could exploit. If the remnant of the River God were not just an ancient fragment, single-mindedly focused on completing the inheritance trial task set by its original body, it would have probably ended this meaningless search for weaknesses long ago, instead of irreversibly falling into an infinite loop.
However, for some reason, even though the memories had reached their end, the backtracking was still not over. Even Shinur himself did not notice that the surrounding world was still changing.
The world fell into darkness, as if everything had fallen into a non-existent void.
And at that moment, in the absolute darkness, the warrior took a step.
A footstep rose and fell in the darkness, but in the end, this foot, clad in a black leather boot, did not step onto empty void. Instead, it landed on a clear, yet constantly changing, ground.
In the previous scene, Joshua had been standing on the frost-covered frozen soil of the Moldavia Territory and the indescribable void. But in the next moment, he was already in a strange world that would shock even a god. The Divine Mechanisms, who had been following closely by his side, looked around in shock. As if sensing something, they immediately looked up, and then saw a sight that could not be seen even in the most fantastical dreams.
This was a land suspended in the sky, suspended in the void. Above a massive, indescribable, colossal blue 'sphere' that was beyond the imagination of the weapons, a vast city built of steel floated in the dark void. Cylindrical space cities rotated regularly, generating enough gravity for life to survive. Countless giant silver ships docked in the zero-gravity central axis port area, then departed for other nearby steel cities.
In an emptiness so vast it surpassed countless continents, a golden star flickered with dazzling light at a distant end, releasing its radiance. In the surrounding sky, stars gathered into rivers, twinkling on the dark canopy. They were located in endless distances where even light would take hundreds or thousands of years to travel, yet faint starlight crossed such vast distances to shine upon the alloy shells of the space cities.
On the orbit of a star that was seventy percent sea and thirty percent land, a silver satellite a quarter of its size revolved around it. Steel cities sat on the surface of this satellite and another distant, flame-like red star. Countless steel ships, spraying pale blue or colorless streams of light, shuttled back and forth between the void space ports and the several celestial bodies.
Not only Ying and Lin felt the shock. Even the River God, in this utterly unfamiliar world, fell into a state of panic. Together with the Divine Mechanism siblings, it observed this world in shock, to the point that when Joshua came within a dozen meters, Shinur only sluggishly lowered its head.
Joshua stepped forward, one step at a time. The surrounding scenes also changed step by step. From a martial arts hall inside a space colony city on the planet's orbit, it stepped back into the planet's atmosphere, into a giant metropolis made of steel and concrete. This metropolis, so large it could be clearly seen from space, was also rapidly regressing as time flowed backward. It went from a fully developed giant future city with space orbits to a steel ruin scarred by war.
And finally, in a wartime hospital hidden in an underground bunker, the warrior stood at the birthplace of his previous life, standing before the half-human, half-god deity in front of him. He raised his head, meeting the god's gaze. His eyes held no displeasure at having his memories observed, nor the fear and worry that should have been there. Joshua simply looked calmly into the other's eyes, which were flickering with blue-green light, as if waiting for something.
Outside, the misty sea that had covered a vast area was boiling, causing all the adventurers to retreat in fear. The black dragon, carrying the floating ring and flying in the sky, circled anxiously around the light sphere below. But it did not know the situation of its master and friends. And at the center of the light sphere, which seemed about to explode with brightness, countless thought particles flickered with dazzling light. They had calculated to their limit, but without the complete soul of a god as a central processor, no matter how active these thought particles were, they could not obtain the result they wanted.
"Strong one of a later age."
Inside the divine illusion, a stiff voice came not long after. A strange light flickered in Shinur's hollow eyes. This remnant of the former deity, like a machine running at full capacity, repeated a pre-set reply in a mechanical tone: "I cannot give you a trial. You... are destined to surpass me in the future. Please... return... now."
As it spoke these words, the River God's form began to gradually dissipate. The massive body composed of the river's flow was rapidly disintegrating into streams of water. The knights and academy students who were undergoing trials within the Divine Calamity Mist, inside the god's illusion, also felt the turbulence of their trials. In their assigned task worlds, all scenery began to distort, and people's voices became hoarse and sharp. This was because the computing power originally allocated to them was being diverted to the central divine imprint to calculate matters related to the warrior. But even so, everything still had no result, falling into a final infinite loop.
At the deepest part of the Divine Calamity Mist, where a star had fallen in ancient times, a pale blue, complex rune trembled and emerged from the void. This rune was covered in totemic patterns resembling flowing rivers and streams. Complex and aesthetically pleasing graphics formed its main body. The divine authority belonging to a god, the supreme majesty, rotated within the pale blue divine light cluster flickering at the rune's center. This was the remnant left behind after the River God Shinur's passing—an inheritance rune containing all the divinity and knowledge related to rivers and streams.
But at this moment, this precious rune, capable of elevating a mortal to Ultimate, Legendary, or even godhood, was violently trembling and cracking. Fine cracks spread with the intense flickering of the surrounding Divine Calamity Mist. In just a few seconds, the cracks had spread to every part of the rune. Blue-green light spread along the cracks. An extremely unstable, terrifying aura seemed ready to erupt with the rune's fragmentation at any moment.
Not far away, the Ultimate-rank Blue Dragon Sukrash vaguely sensed this. He was clutching a carriage containing two humanoid giant dragons who were nearly frightened into unconsciousness, preparing to immediately turn and flee far away. But this warrior's captive, upon seeing the black dragon flying anxiously around the mist light sphere, couldn't help but sigh.
If he didn't help, he would definitely be killed by that man. Thinking this, the Blue Dragon flew towards the black dragon at the fastest speed of his life.
And just as Sukrash was about to use magic to drag the anxious black dragon away, a star suddenly appeared in the bright daytime sky of the Mycroft Continent.
Compared to the bright sun, this star could be described as dim. But the moment this dim star flickered, a vast, immense, unfathomable power descended from the sky.
On the ground, the adventurers and mercenaries who were fearfully fleeing from the mist froze. A dagger that had slipped from its owner's hand hung suspended in mid-air. In the sky, the flying Sukrash froze, maintaining the scene of preparing to cast a spell on the black dragon to drag this anxious dragon away.
And by the lake, the lake surface, which had been rippling due to the breeze, was motionless, as if frozen solid. The previously boiling mist and light sphere also had no movement. The flickering thought particles were frozen in place, 'dominated' by this power descending from outside the world.
In this instant of universal stillness, a rotating black ring holy emblem flickered for a moment at the end of the sky. At the core of the Divine Calamity Mist, the rune carrying the inheritance of the River God Shinur seemed to have its time reversed, rapidly 'restoring' to its original state. The flickering divine light contracted, the spreading cracks closed, and the imprint that had manifested from the outer side of the world due to overload began to return to the void, fading from sight.
Inside the divine illusion.
The half-human, half-serpent River God stopped collapsing. A power from afar maintained the existence of this divine remnant. The restored Shinur's eyes returned to hollowness. It gazed at Joshua for a moment, then closed its eyes and self-dissipated, returning to the divine imprint.
But strangely, this divine illusion did not disappear with its departure. Instead, it continued to operate.
Joshua looked thoughtfully at the space in front of him, which was constantly twisting.
After Shinur left, why did this illusory world still persist?
The answer was simple.
Another god had taken up residence in this world.
"Greetings, holder of Might and Justice."
Gazing at the gradually emerging black rotating ring, the warrior nodded slightly as a gesture of respect. He said softly, "Your Majesty, Zinsen."
And with Joshua's words, a human form rapidly coalesced out of thin air.
Everything was dominated by a powerful force. The dust in the air, the tiny water droplets floating in the atmosphere, the invisible mana elements—all that existed was controlled and dominated under the slow rotation of the black ring, then transformed into countless basic material particles, coalescing from nothing into the body of a majestic man.
This majestic middle-aged man had scattered grey hair. His face was hard, as if forged through all the fires of war. A thick, solid full-body armor covered his body, covered with countless fine and exquisite reliefs. A black, ink-like cape behind his shoulder armor fluttered in the wind, like a burning flame.
In a world where everything except Joshua was frozen, this majestic being—no, this being who was originally a god—opened his eyes. In his deep grey pupils was an inhuman indifference.
"Shinur was our most steadfast ally a thousand years ago. The River God fought against the evil from outside the world until the very last moment."
Unlike the machine-like Shinur, this god, whom Joshua called Zinsen, spoke in a calm but clearly intelligent tone. His low, clear voice instantly penetrated the entire illusory space, holy and majestic echoes reverberating in this empty world. "Because of an oath, I could not sit by and watch him dissipate, so I intervened in the mortal world."
"Joshua van Radcliffe, inheritor of the Sage, the one who rekindles the flame."
Zinsen raised his head. He met the warrior's gaze, a strange light flickering in his deep grey pupils. "I know there are doubts in your heart. Your entry into Shinur's inheritance illusion had a purpose."
"The long-dead remnant could not answer your questions. But I, one of the Seven Gods, can."