Chapter 4: The Past and the Present
"You're too slow. How did Ying and Lin arrive before you?"
In the office of the Imperial Royal Mage Association's president, Nostradamus's dissatisfied voice echoed through the room.
"I was comforting a somewhat frightened child. I didn't expect to gain some unexpected rewards."
Stepping out of the space-time gate, Joshua was unconcerned by the old mage's questioning. There was still a long time before the appointed hour; he could be considered to have set out early. Moreover, with Nostradamus present, they had no need to worry about spatial distance and could head to the vicinity of the void distortion point at any time.
As for Number 3's earlier actions, aside from a sigh of surprise that it had already evolved to this extent, the warrior had no other superfluous thoughts. After all, no matter the situation, it was all far too early.
Although this world had escaped a future of destruction, it was still fraught with countless crises. Abyss demons, the earth and magical beasts, unknown ancient dragons, evil gods returning from the far reaches of the multiverse, and the darkness lurking among the stars—none of it was anywhere near the point where they could relax. Furthermore, Joshua had to follow in the footsteps of the Sage, to understand the truth of the ancient lost past. The Church of the Seven Gods, the Elven Royal Court, and the Far South Kingdom all had a mountain of affairs to attend to. Whether it was post-disaster reconstruction, purifying polluted land, or planting the World Tree, none of it allowed them to be distracted. Although the void distortion point was important, it was far less so than these matters. Thus, these factions would at most send a few envoys to observe and record, not dispatch their elite forces.
As for the Western Mountain, there was no need to even mention it. They were originally a collection of scattered sorcerer families and kingdoms ruled by transcendent beings. Their strong were basically all monarchs of their own nations, and they would hardly abandon their territories for something like this. Moreover, the underground races had recently begun formal diplomatic relations with the outside world, and their attention was completely focused on that aspect.
"It's enough. Five legendary experts holding the line—this is a defensive line that even an entire layer of the Abyss, emptying out all its forces, might not be able to break. If this ancient distortion point weren't so significant, potentially containing valuable technology and heritage from the Era of Radiance, and if it weren't for its own value of being able to exist stably for a thousand years, how could we possibly have assembled such a powerful exploration team?"
Standing in the center of his office, Nostradamus raised his head, looking towards the sky, his expression serious. "Let's go early, and prepare early. It's time to set out."
Joshua naturally wouldn't refuse. So, the next second, accompanied by a space-time fluctuation far stronger than usual and a surge of deep blue mana light spilling out the window, everyone in the room was transported through the gaps of time and space by the legendary mage's power, heading towards the distant reaches of the void.
At roughly the same time, within a towering rock spire that seemed to have grown directly from the continental shelf in the eastern waters of the continent, a bald old man in simple clothes, holding a smoking pipe in his hand, stood on the high platform of his mage tower's teleportation array. He scanned the twelve silent elite mages in the array with a scrutinizing gaze. His eyes had no pupils or whites, only a mass of burning light. Elemental Master Barbarossa was not a man of many words; he was accustomed to planning before acting, using solid actions to replace his words. His apprentices and disciples were naturally influenced by their teacher, possessing similar character traits.
"Begin the operation," he said succinctly.
And so, the light of teleportation flared.
Sensing the actions of his old acquaintance, also an old rival, in a crude hut on a small island near the most prosperous port city of the Mycroft Continent's eastern waters, the Sea Dragon Knight Order's garrison, the Sea Dragon City, a plainly dressed woman with closed eyes tied up her ivory-white, waist-length hair. With a calm expression, she activated a formation that could cause ripples in time and space. In the distant waters opposite, at the center of a new gathering place for the Fishman race, a similar fluctuation tore through the constraints of space, sending the massive black fishman and its elite subordinates to a pre-determined area.
Outside the Mycroft World, in the chaotic Astral Void, hundreds and thousands of bright light masses clung to the world's light membrane. They were of varying sizes; the large ones were like the Moon clinging to the Earth, while the small ones were only a few meters in diameter. These were the external manifestations of the demiplanes attached to the main world in the void. Among these thousands of light masses, a dark, twisted space-time anomaly was exceptionally conspicuous. It slowly revolved around the world and had now arrived beside a massive light mass.
Bringing the Divine Mechanism siblings and the light orb, Joshua and Nostradamus passed through the space-time channel and arrived in the Fairyland. The teleportation process between the demiplane and the world was quite lengthy and complex, requiring review by the Fairy Queens along the way. Fortunately, no errors occurred in the process, and the group smoothly arrived at the edge of the Fairyland, facing the dark, twisted space-time head-on.
"There are quite a few people."
Scanning the surrounding camps, Joshua felt quite surprised. At the edge of the Fairyland, there were four crude camps, far apart from each other. Each camp had over twenty logistics personnel preparing supplies, seemingly intending to turn the place into a temporary base. In the camp where he and Nostradamus had landed, there were also fifteen professionals who looked extremely elite. They wore the same style of armor and robes, likely members of the same squad. Among them were mages, priests, warriors, archers, alchemists, and thieves—a standard adventurer team.
Before he could continue observing his surroundings, three consecutive space-time fluctuations emanated from the other three camps. Joshua could sense that in that instant, three powerful beings had traversed from the other side of time and space. Among them was an elemental aggregate shimmering with rainbow light, an existence rapidly assimilating with the surrounding Fairyland environment, completely merging itself with heaven and earth in a mere instant, and another that seemed like an unfathomable, deep, dark abyss.
Elemental Master Barbarossa, Ocean Sage Faina, and Fishman High Priest Godar—three legendary experts, along with their most elite teams, descended simultaneously at the temporal edge of the Fairyland.
Joshua observed the others with interest, and they observed him in turn. The bald old man narrowed his eyes slightly; what he saw was a majestic volcano, spewing forth golden-red molten steel. The closed-eyed woman raised an eyebrow; what she sensed was a solid, self-contained piece of steel, seemingly unaffected by the changes in the surrounding world. The tall, black fishman adjusted the ritual ornaments made of skulls and gems strung around its neck; what it saw was the most condensed and pure life force, boiling like a flame, releasing a high temperature that made one want to stay away.
After this brief mutual observation, a short exchange began.
"So, humans, as agreed."
From afar, an obscure mental wave emanated from the fishman camp. "Let's act separately first. Send teams for preliminary exploration. Once we have some intelligence, we'll share it, then compile and deduce."
This was the action plan agreed upon by the four major powers long before: The space-time distortion point was a twisted mass of space-time. Its essence, according to the legendary experts' speculation, was a man-made demiplane similar to the Fairyland. However, due to some accident, it hadn't attached itself to the Mycroft World but was moving around the world's outer membrane in the Astral Void. Because of this, the powerful legendary experts couldn't rashly enter it. If their immense power were to clash with the demiplane's power without restraint, it could lead to extremely serious consequences, including but not limited to the complete destruction of the entire demiplane.
Therefore, before Joshua and the others made their move, the major factions would have their selected elite professionals enter first to gather various parameter intelligence on the demiplane. This would allow the legendary experts to fine-tune the essence of their power to avoid conflict with the demiplane. It was the same principle as when the warrior had gone to the Grandia World years ago and needed time to adapt to the local Steel Force.
Acting separately was to avoid conflict. After all, the three major factions of the Eastern Plains had serious conflicts with each other. If one faction discovered that another had found some important ruins or materials inside, they would undoubtedly ambush each other, which could escalate into a direct battle. This would not only deepen the conflict but also render the exploration futile. Only when encountering a particularly serious situation would everyone join forces to resolve it.
Nostradamus seemed very familiar with this series of procedures. He had participated in, and even presided over, many similar joint operations over the past few decades. However, one involving legendary experts was probably a first for him as well. Joshua also found it quite novel, but this novelty mainly came from his perspective.
"A level-restricted instance dungeon, a low-level elite exploration team assembled for it, with the strong mainly serving as a backdrop, only making a move at critical moments."
He muttered to himself, even letting out a laugh, which caused Ying and Lin beside him to glance at him repeatedly. Nostradamus also turned his head in confusion. Joshua paid no attention to the others' gazes but looked at the twisted space slowly moving in the void. "So familiar, but my role has changed."
In the past, he was the one participating in the exploration. Now, he was one of those stabilizing the situation.
Unknowingly, he had reached this level.