# Chapter 8: I Told You Long Ago
Mount Nissier stood like a tall sentinel upon the desolate ice field, its form impossible to conceal even beneath the sky-obscuring blizzard.
Before this towering snowy mountain stretched a forest of snow pines that extended to the edge of vision. Years of careful cultivation by Winterfell Academy had finally brought some breath of life to the barren ice field. Among the pine forest lay a strikingly visible palm-shaped lake, the radiance of magical power reflecting from the magic crystal veins at its bottom, appearing beautiful and dazzling.
Expanding the view to look at the mountainside, any traveler who had visited this place several years ago would be incredibly surprised. Compared to before, the originally rugged and steep mountain body had undergone a great transformation. The crisscrossing rocky ravines had been filled with earth, a smooth stone road led straight up the mountain, and as long as I came of age, the next battle would have me riding it!"
"No, Black, think carefully about the time it takes for an ancient dragon to come of age..."
"Zzz."
Hearing the words of the two girls at her feet, Chu Hao paused for a moment. It ceased its innate manipulation of earth and stone, then slowly bent down, its form resembling an ordinary house. This was also a method that could change one's fate—unlike the Great Magic Tide, because excessively dense magical power had accumulated in the earth and was absorbed by various grains and livestock, humans who consumed these foods would more or less possess some magical power.
In other words, all life on the Mycroft Continent now, unless naturally incompatible with magic, would have some magical power accumulated within their bodies. They could use and control various magical energy facilities that were originally only usable by spellcasters.
If ordinary people were already like this, then spellcaster organizations and magic academies originally built on magical power hubs throughout the land were even more so. The magical power concentration in these places rose rapidly every day. However, overly dense magical power was not a good thing for spellcasters. Living in places with excessive magical power concentration could easily lead to contracting 'magic addiction.' Spellcasters with this symptom would fall into extreme hunger for energy once they went to places with insufficient magical power concentration, and might even go mad, causing various accidents and disasters.
To avoid this situation, mage academies that originally aimed to gather as much magical power as possible naturally had to begin dispersing some of the excess magical power. Chu Hao had received a task from Winterfell Academy, using its power to make fine adjustments to the mountain body, altering Mount Nissier's natural ability to gather magical power, slightly weakening it.
Now, Chu Hao lived in a mountain not far from Mount Nissier. Winterfell Academy had originally planned to build a huge building for it, but it chose to dig a nest for itself within the mountain. It seemed that after living with dwarves for so long, it had become addicted to digging. Now, using its innate abilities, it had excavated several mountains' worth of earth and stone beneath the ice field, and no one knew exactly where it had dug to now.
This ability, when used for leveling terrain, was almost equivalent to twenty fully armed dwarf construction teams. Facts proved that this was not an exaggeration at all.
Now, at the end of Starfall Year 83, it wasn't just the Nissier Snow Mountain in the Northern lands where various projects were underway. Moldavia Territory, the entire Northern lands, the Empire, and even the entire Mycroft Continent were all busily engaged in various large-scale projects.
With the gradually spreading magical energy technology, many cities that had not changed for centuries began to demolish their original city walls and undergo large-scale expansion. The various order fortresses at the edge of the Black Forest had also undergone several large-scale renovations from the inside out.
The dwarves had dug a huge vertical trench deep into the earth's crust in the western mountains, directly channeling the scorching heat of the earth's core to maintain the energy needs of their entire race. The mages of the Eastern Plains had begun large-scale resource mobilization. On the calm coast of Gem Bay, the prototype of a floating city was gradually taking shape. The Church of the Seven Gods announced to all believers worldwide that they would build a giant lighthouse powered by holy light on the Holy Mountain. Within the range of the lighthouse's light, any believer could teleport between various churches and temples using holy light.
One magnificent wonder after another, one majestic building after another, took shape one by one in the wave of transcendent power. And it didn't stop there.
It seemed that everyone suddenly understood that if they did not change and progress, they would inevitably fall behind the times. According to Mage Weekly statistics, in the two years since the Dragon Calamity ended, various countries on the continent had increased their civilian construction funding by 15.7 times compared to the war period. Funds originally used for military equipment had been shifted to research in cutting-edge technology and infrastructure construction.
And in just these two years, the entire world seemed to have changed—castles and villages that originally carried the atmosphere of the feudal era had now become towns of various sizes. Stone fortresses, after multiple renovations, had become metal fortresses covered with runic steel armor.
With the behind-the-scenes push of the powerful beings who truly controlled this world, the core prosperous areas of the entire world had almost completely entered the era of magical energy industrialization. Only some remote cities and villages still maintained the same appearance as hundreds of years ago.
The Northern Empire was also undertaking a huge project. Joshua had recently been invited by Israel to conduct research on some materials and alloys. Although he left a large group of people at home in the Northern lands, he occasionally used communication magic to exchange messages with Ying and Number 3. Every time they communicated, Ying noticed that her master's expression was very excited, as if he was very satisfied with the huge project the Empire was secretly constructing.
"This is definitely a step ahead of the world."
In the light screen, Joshua said this: "I can't reveal this project to you, but without a doubt, I am witnessing a brand new history—history that has never appeared before, created because of me!"
Ying sat on Chu Hao's shoulder, recalling what Joshua had said at that time. The warrior rarely boasted so arrogantly. Although he was occasionally arrogant and wild, that was only directed at enemies and based on absolute confidence in his heart. But Ying had never heard such words before—history created because of him? Did her master think he could change the entire world?
—Wait.
Thinking back to this point, the silver-haired girl's expression froze slightly.
It seemed... her master really had changed the world, and not just one world!
"So, what exactly is this project..."
Unconsciously, Ying began to look forward to it. She reached out her hand and touched the light orb held in Black's arms. Amidst the 'dingling' sound from the orb, the silver-haired girl looked down at the world in the heavy snow.
And at that moment, from the Great Aias Mountains not far away, intense magical power fluctuations suddenly came.
Including Chu Hao and Black, all beings at Gold-rank and above in Winterfell Academy shifted their gazes. They sensed intense space-time fluctuations coming, as if something was crossing half the continent, traveling through space.
"This aura..."
Before Ying could finish her muttering, Black suddenly widened her eyes. Holding the light orb in her arms, she said somewhat surprised: "Isn't that the two old men who cheat at card games!"
"It's Baniel and Mr. William—Black, don't learn to speak like master! And you absolutely can't say these things in front of them!"
"Oh."
The visitors were indeed the two legendary mages, Baniel and William. Because the two occasionally taught at Winterfell Academy, all faculty and students were quite familiar with their auras. After a brief commotion, Mount Nissier returned to calm. However, Ying patted Chu Hao's shoulder, making the giant stop its work.
And the next moment, the two legendary mages appeared together before the girls.
"You're Joshua's head maid, and his mount!"
Just as Ying had thought, the two legendary mages came directly to them. They looked very excited, their faces flushed. Baniel, who was in the lead, adjusted his glasses and said to everyone in a quite friendly tone: "Do you know where Joshua is? Barbarossa and we have urgent business with him, very important, concerning the power of ancient dragons, and he would definitely be interested!"
"It's definitely a discovery that will go down in history!" William added, his face intoxicated, seemingly delighted by the results of their days of research.
"I'm very sorry, but master is not in Moldavia recently. He was invited by the Imperial Royal Family to participate in a large project and hasn't returned for almost a month."
For the two legendary mages who hadn't hidden any of their feelings, Ying showed a completely different demeanor from when she was with acquaintances. She stood up, smiling on Chu Hao's shoulder, and said politely to Baniel and William: "But don't worry, I have means to contact master at any time. If you two really need something, we can go to Winterfell Academy together, and I can contact master for you there."
"Then we'll leave it to you." The two legendary mages nodded in unison. They weren't surprised that Joshua wasn't in his territory. It seemed they had even mentally prepared for the possibility of coming up empty.
And while Ying and Black were leading the two legendary mages into Winterfell Academy, preparing to contact Joshua...
In the western mountainous region of the Northern Empire, beneath a certain flat plateau.
This was a huge underground cavern spanning nearly ten kilometers. It seemed to have been naturally formed by magical power erosion, but traces of artificial magical reinforcement could be seen everywhere. The entire cavern was now occupied by various huge steel runic machinery. Throughout the cavern, spiral towers flashing with cyan-green magical fluorescence stood everywhere, condensing vast magical energy.
If someone familiar with magical energy machinery came here, they would definitely be shocked by the sheer scale of the project—if not for the assistance of legendary experts, no force in the world could possibly create such a scene, not even with the full strength of a nation. This was almost a city made of steel and machinery, with countless complex runic circuits connecting every machine and tower, astonishing magical power surging within them.
And at the edge of a long corridor deep within this underground cavern, Joshua stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel and Nostradamus. The three looked out from the corridor's window toward the center of the cavern, their expressions solemn.
At the center of this city built from countless steel machinery, there was a huge depression like a dockyard berthing area. And in the very center of this depression lay a colossal object whose length alone exceeded three kilometers—it floated suspended in the cyan-green magical field emitted by the spiral towers, as if motionless. Mages flying in the air busily manipulated the formations beside them, inspecting and maintaining every detail of this massive object.
But the three legendary experts were not looking at this huge magical energy creation, which seemed like the prototype of some massive vessel. They were looking at the dock-like depression and a steel runic track that was still under construction, seemingly about to break through the cavern's ceiling.
"This is your confidence, Israel?"
After gazing for a long time, Joshua, who had used his Steel Force to personally create most of the magical energy machinery, spoke softly: "You're going to use this thing to deal with those nobles? You plan to use an entire void warship production line to swat mosquitoes?"
"I suspect you're planning to conquer the world." He said seriously.
"Of course not, Lord Radcliffe. The nobles are just a small obstacle hindering my actions. Their existence would obstruct the future I want."
Beside the warrior, the Imperial Emperor and his teacher exchanged smiles. Israel said slowly: "And I must thank you for your help. Without your Steel Force, I might not have been able to build this base even in decades... But now, with three legendary experts joining forces, how could just one world be enough?"
The more he spoke, the more cheerful his smile became: "I told you long ago."
"My pursuit lies far beyond this sky and the stars above."