Chapter 5: Steel Force and Revolution
—It was too powerful.
Joshua was no stranger to being amazed by the power wielded by Legendary-rank experts, but the Soul-Matter Conversion Rune that Faina had demonstrated truly shocked him once again.
Without a doubt, this was the transcendent world's version of mass-energy conversion, and from the sound of it, it seemed to be an enhanced version that included the soul as well... This Sage of the Eastern Sea truly lived up to her reputation as a proper spellcaster; in this regard, she was not inferior to her counterparts from other worlds.
No wonder Baniel and the others said that if all the knowledge mastered by Legendary-rank experts were to be universalized, the Mycroft World would not only be able to step into the Void but could even conquer it outright.
At this moment, Joshua recalled the words spoken by the two Legendary Mages earlier, and he nodded in agreement—if the Mycroft Civilization possessed the technical capability to universalize and civilianize all the power that Legendary-rank experts had mastered, then creating another Era of Radiance would indeed be no difficult task. In fact, it could be said that the Era of Falling Stars surpassing the Era of Radiance was only a matter of time. The only thing blocking the arrival of this era was likely the common people's low awareness of transcendent power and their insufficient level of education.
A true transcendent civilization.
Thinking this far, Joshua finally understood Israel's true desire for revolution—His Majesty the Emperor had undoubtedly seen this point long ago, which was why he had always supported Nostradamus in spreading transcendent power to all levels of the Empire. Because true genius could not be cultivated by a single elite aristocratic class; it had to be achieved through centralized education of the entire Empire's population, filtering through a vast pool of talent.
"This technology is far too precious, Lady Faina. I don't think the coordinates of the Starry World are worth you exchanging it for."
Although Joshua was very tempted, he still spoke his mind frankly. He sat in the large chair, both hands resting on the armrests, his expression calm: "But as it happens, I have many coordinates of Life Otherworlds here."
"Is that so?" The Sage lady, who could calmly speak of dissecting her own body, raised an eyebrow slightly. She seemed about to say something, but in the end, she sighed: "Perhaps I am indeed at a slight disadvantage... But that doesn't matter. I only want what I want. Whether it's worth it or not is none of my concern."
At this moment, Faina truly lived up to her title of Sage, being exceptionally open-minded about such matters. Joshua could also see that this spiritual projection of hers seemed on the verge of dissipating at any moment, so he could only shrug and say: "In a transaction, fairness is most important... You want the coordinates of the Life World? Then take them."
With that, the warrior raised his right hand and pointed his index finger. The formula Faina had provided could not directly convert matter into soul. To be specific, this formula could only unilaterally convert soul into energy, then unilaterally convert that energy into matter, and finally convert that matter into soul... It could not directly convert soul into matter, nor could it convert matter into soul. The energy form served as an intermediary between soul and matter.
That made sense. This was Joshua's true inner thought, because it meant that Faina could only convert the soul energy she herself controlled, not just pick up any random stone and convert it into energy or soul. If that were the case, wouldn't the Sage of the Eastern Sea have long been invincible under heaven? Who could withstand her star-destroying output? Perhaps only the Old Pope, who could control the speed of light, would have a fighting chance.
But at the same time, the warrior still felt a bit regretful. If this Soul-Matter Conversion Rune truly had such terrifying effects, his combat power would increase geometrically—not to mention anything else, with his body density, he could just break off a small piece of his finger and convert it into energy, and blowing up an entire planet wouldn't be an exaggeration. If he went all out and self-destructed, it might even cause a gamma-ray burst that would affect other worlds in the Void.
"Even so, it's still terrifying. Faina abandoned her physical body and advanced through the Soul's Ultimate Essence. Her soul is more condensed and massive than that of ordinary Legendary-rank experts. Not to mention various soul spells, the combat power formed by converting this amount of soul into energy is absolutely not to be underestimated."
But now was not the time to speculate about Faina's combat power. Joshua put the Soul-Matter Rune into his pocket, then picked up a book beside him and began flipping through it casually.
Steel Force was the exclusive power of the Era of Radiance, belonging to the Earth Mother Goddess's son, the line of the Lofty Mountain Titans. It was also the orthodox inherited power of the Earth Mother Goddess—World Will side. Apart from divine-blood descendants and Titans, very few others possessed Steel Force. This secret manual recorded the most core cultivation and combat methods of Steel Force from the Earth Temple. Their originals were inscribed with divine runes on the inheritance stone tablet at the center of the Earth Temple, but now they had been transcribed into human language and sent before Joshua.
"Quite interesting."
After skimming through some introductory nonsense praising the Earth Mother Goddess and boasting of the Titans' great power, as well as some very basic characteristics of Steel Force that he already knew, Joshua went straight to page fifteen of the book and began reading 'On the Condensation and Usage Methods of Steel Force.' This recorded a technique used by a certain Lofty Mountain Titan to condense material particles in the air, forming weapons and various tools out of thin air.
In addition, this technique could also be used to rapidly heal injuries and replace missing body parts. As long as the surrounding material particles were dense enough, even a fatal wound could be mostly healed in an instant... This was indeed a very interesting condensation method, but it wasn't very suitable for Joshua. His body density was simply too great. If he followed the method to condense the dust particles in the surrounding air, even a small injury would drain all the dust within dozens of kilometers. If he were on the ground, it would directly suck out a large pit.
This book was indeed somewhat interesting. Although some of the knowledge in it had fallen behind the times and was completely out of step with modern transcendent systems—for example, the method of long-distance communication through resonance between Steel Forces was far inferior to today's magical communication arrays—it would still have a place in a dead magic world without any magical elements. Another example was the combat application of Steel Force, which was nothing more than gravity waves and mass impact. Joshua felt that even fighting by instinct would be more refined than what was written in this book.
But aside from that, in certain aspects outside of combat, this ancient Earth Temple text was still quite valuable—for instance, Joshua learned from it how to create objects using Steel Force!
"It's a bit like 3D printing, but more precise and more convenient."
Muttering to himself, Joshua extended his right hand. Silver mist swirled in his palm. After a moment, the mist condensed, and a small metal statue of Ying appeared in his hand. The silver-haired girl's miniature was lifelike, even her eyes seeming real. In just a few seconds, Joshua had materialized the silver-haired girl from his mind.
"Not bad. If this ability could be applied in combat..." Joshua became even more interested—although he had already been able to use Steel Force to create complex and precise organs like the Psionic Leap Engine and the Fusion Core Heart inside his body, those had prototypes and were inside his body. But now, he was creating such a precise statue outside his body, purely by imagination.
If this could be used in real combat, wouldn't it mean that as long as he had enough raw materials, he could directly manufacture seven or eight Fusion Core Heart engines to carry in his hands, then blow one up whenever he encountered a Demon Lord, smash two whenever he met a Void Behemoth, and throw a handful at an Abyss Lord... Just thinking about it felt satisfying!
"Master... a communication from His Majesty the Emperor. He seems to have something to discuss with you."
Just as Joshua was envisioning the future, Ying poked her head through the crack of the meeting hall's door. Her green eyes blinked: "Master Nostradamus is also here. Look... Huh? What's that?"
Upon hearing those two names, Joshua shrugged and stood up, saying: "I knew they would come looking for me... I'll go now."
"As for this?"
With that, Joshua picked up the metal statue he had just materialized using a trace of Steel Force. He smiled, walked to the door, opened it, and handed it to the silver-haired girl, patting her head: "Consider it a gift for you. After all, I didn't bring you and Lin on this trip."
"And don't overthink things—Lisa is a disciple I brought back from another world. She has pure ancient dragon blood, even more concentrated than Hei's dragon blood!"
After saying this, he left Ying standing there, staring at the statue in her hands, and strode toward the communication room on the second floor.
In the communication room, a light screen was flickering. The influence of the Great Magic Tide was intensifying. Although voice and video could still be transmitted smoothly, static and snowflakes were unavoidable. In the center of the video, a dignified man with dark-golden shoulder-length hair stood with his arms crossed, looking quite impatient, waiting for Joshua's arrival.
"You're finally here? Lord Radcliffe, just returned from the Starry World with Master Nostradamus, and then you went for another spin in the Void with those two old fellows? You really can't sit still..."
"Everyone has their own way of life... Although I also feel that continuing like this isn't quite right, so I should be resting for a while recently."
"You said that last time, and the time before that, every single time." On the other side of the light screen, Israel didn't voice his thoughts, but his expression almost wrote those words directly on his face. After a moment, he sighed and said: "The Sixth Abyss has been unusually active lately. Our Void Observatory detected that at least two of their legions have left the Abyss's main base, heading toward the far reaches of the Void... If they were to invade our Mycroft World now, and you weren't here, the Northern Empire would be in danger."
The Emperor's tone was heavy, showing that he had indeed been troubled by these matters lately. But Joshua seemed to recall something, and his expression turned somewhat subtle.
"Two demon legions? I'm not entirely sure about that... But if it's one legion, it might be heading toward my area."
After thinking for a moment, Joshua informed Israel about the Insect Demon Lord and its legion he had encountered near the Chronos World.
"..." Israel's expression immediately became complicated.
Joshua seemed not to notice the Emperor's expression. He spoke on his own, asking toward the other end of the light screen: "Speaking of which, Your Majesty, when do you plan to start the purge of the stubborn aristocratic faction and the imperial revolution you mentioned to me last time? I'm not rushing you, nor am I doubting your resolve for revolution. I just want to know the specific time. After all, you know I often go out..."
At this point, even Joshua seemed a bit embarrassed, so he shut his mouth and stopped speaking. Israel let out a heavy sigh and could only say in a helpless tone: "Enough, that's just the kind of person you are. I can't expect you to become a true noble... As for the revolution."
The Emperor closed his eyes, let out a cold laugh, and then opened them again. In Israel's eyes shone a light called anticipation: "Soon."
"Speaking of which, you deserve some credit for this matter."
Saying this, Israel glanced at Joshua and nodded seriously: "I also need to thank you for bringing the Gale Wind to participate in the Holy Mountain Dragon Calamity War. The Imperial Royal Mage Laboratory obtained enough data to give us the raw information for modifying and strengthening the floating warships... Hmph, for a great purge, the more preparation, the better."
"The second-generation enhanced floating warships have already been tested. Once the five major legions' air forces are officially equipped, they will easily suppress any possible resistance from the Empire's nobles in the future."
"Before the new era arrives, all the old era's vermin will be swept into the gutter of history by the Empire's newborn power."