# Chapter 13: Long Time No See
"...You yourself aren't even thirty years old yet, how can you sound more like an old man than I do?"
But soon, Nostradamus pondered for a moment, then immediately felt something was off. He realized: "It can't be because you're too idle, can it? That kind of talk doesn't sound like something you'd say."
"Why can't I say something a little philosophical?"
Besides, with two lifetimes combined, I'm nearly forty years old—why can't I act like an elder?
Joshua felt that Nostradamus must have some kind of prejudice against him, as if he were nothing but a war construct with only combat programs installed in his mind. But such things weren't important, and he was too lazy to waste energy explaining.
"Speaking of which, Joshua, the server has been gradually stabilizing lately, and I've taken the opportunity to stay a few days at your Lord's Manor... After observing these past few days, I feel that since becoming a Legendary, you seem to have grown a bit slack."
Nostradamus didn't directly answer the warrior's question. He simply sat up straight on the sofa, his face full of seriousness as he said: "In this week at your Lord's Manor, every day you either accompany Number Three in explaining some knowledge, or take Ying and Lin for a stroll around the city, and occasionally go out for walks with your black dragon and steel elemental... Although this is indeed the life of a Lord, I haven't seen you train in a long time."
"Even a Legendary needs daily contemplation and refinement. Even if you don't regress, being too idle will cause you to stagnate."
Nostradamus said this out of pure goodwill. Back when he accompanied Israel, he had seen the Emperor go through this same phase. Due to political affairs and war, Israel hadn't honed his power for a long time after advancing to Legendary. He had miscalculated the severity of his hidden injuries and failed to treat them properly, allowing the curse that touched the essence of soul and life to gradually worsen to the point where it could kill even a Legendary powerhouse. By the time he tried to solve it, it was already too late.
Although Israel eventually resolved the curse's effects by obtaining Divinity, that was over a decade later. He didn't want Joshua to repeat the same mistake.
But Joshua shook his head.
"Nostradamus, you definitely have some misunderstanding about my power."
Closing the book in his hand, the warrior turned to face the old mage, his tone calm. He naturally wouldn't feel impatient toward the old mage's well-intentioned reminder, but he also felt he needed to properly explain that he hadn't been simply wasting time recently.
"Ever since returning from the Chronos World, after witnessing the Ancient Dragon's perfect life form, I've been thinking about how to become such an existence myself."
"Coincidentally, on the very day I returned, I happened to meet the Sage of the Eastern Sea, Faina. She brought me the Steel Force scriptures I urgently needed—techniques researched by predecessors. Just as I was learning those techniques, I also joined your project to build the large underground Mana base."
Saying this, Joshua wore a faint, barely noticeable smile. He extended his right hand, and a swirling silver mist appeared in his palm. He raised his right hand, and the mist spun rapidly, finally condensing into a golden-red gemstone. This was certainly no ordinary gem—it was a crystallization of the sun, a condensation of positive energy, the remnant left after a world's destruction. In the ancient myths of Mycroft, it was called the manifestation of flame and radiance in the mortal world.
The moment Nostradamus saw it, his pupils immediately contracted. He could naturally tell what Joshua had condensed.
"Fusion Core Star... Instantly creating Transcendent matter... Your power has actually reached this level!"
The old man's voice immediately became solemn: "It seems I truly underestimated you... Joshua, you're still the same as always, always able to surprise people."
"This is just the basics, far from enough."
Joshua wasn't pleased by Nostradamus's praise. He gazed at the scorching wind radiating from the Fusion Core Star in his hand and said calmly: "Thanks to you and Israel, after long periods of high-intensity training in the underground base, my creation ability has improved to the point where I can instantly condense any substance in the material world at will... And the process of stabilizing the server has also given me quite a bit of inspiration and progress in terms of creation precision."
Although it seemed like he was just helping out, Joshua had never stopped contemplating his own power. During this long period of busy work, his Steel Force synchronization rate was about to break through the fifty percent mark. Moreover, he had also developed his own understanding of the perfect body.
According to predecessors' descriptions, the so-called perfect body was a nearly immortal physique. For Ancient Dragons possessing such a constitution, they were nearly impossible to kill. They could breathe in sync with the world, and even if the world was destroyed, they wouldn't die—they would simply go to another world to dwell.
A single fallen feather could inspire a civilization. A single drop of blood could propagate a race. A shed scale could greatly advance a world's material science. Even mere existence could continuously change the surrounding ecosystem and influence the evolution of nearby races.
This description wasn't an exaggeration but an undeniable fact. And now, Joshua was already close to grasping the essence of the perfect body.
Immortality—he was almost there. As long as he maintained coordination among his internal organs, his body would have no lifespan limit—at least, not without combat. And because of Joshua's body composition, no matter what existence tried to kill him, it would become extremely difficult. Even if thrown into the center of a sun, he wouldn't suffer any harm.
As for the part about a portion of the body inspiring a civilization—Joshua could undoubtedly do that too. As long as those civilizations could analyze the remnants of the warrior's body, they would undoubtedly greatly enhance their understanding of material science. As for spawning a race... wasn't there Number One? That could barely count.
What Joshua still couldn't understand at this point was the aspect of existence itself changing the surrounding ecosystem. And without the system to determine progress, he couldn't yet confirm how far he had traveled on this path... But not knowing also had its own pleasures, and he quite enjoyed it.
"Right now, I can only instantly create one substance without error. If I want to stably create a complex structure composed of many different substances, I'm still far from it."
Seeing the old mage's barely concealed expression of surprise, Joshua naturally understood that the other party now knew he hadn't been idle recently. So he dissolved the Fusion Core Star in his hand, absorbing the original material particles back into his body. The warrior picked up his book again, reading the Earth Temple's insights on Steel Force, and said softly: "But I'm also approaching a bottleneck... I have a feeling that Steel Force isn't such a simple power. Even I can't research it smoothly forever."
In terms of creation, Joshua felt he had already encountered some stagnation. He could no longer accelerate his creation speed, and when transforming his own body, he also felt the transformation speed slowing down.
Fully assimilating oneself with one's own Legendary traits by one hundred percent would allow one to advance from Legendary Low-rank to Legendary Mid-rank. This was like Old Pope Eagle's transformation into light, the Nature Mentor's transformation into an ecosystem, and Faina's soul transformation. They had all already advanced to Legendary Mid-rank or even higher realms.
If Joshua wanted to advance to Legendary Mid-rank, he needed to fully transform himself into a Steel Force condensate similar to white dwarf matter... But unlike others, the power Joshua held was too strong in combat. Although he hadn't yet advanced to Legendary Mid-rank, in terms of pure destructive power, he already surpassed many Legendaries who didn't focus on combat.
Take Baniel, for example. He was a Rune Master, proficient in all the magical runes in this world. This Legendary Mage could use runes to create tens or hundreds of thousands of Elemental Lords, and could also use various runes to unleash all kinds of terrifying calamity magic. But in terms of destructive power, that was about it—just ordinary earthquakes and tsunamis. Baniel's specialty was analyzing worlds, using runes to construct a domain of his own—a capability difficult to manifest in destruction.
William, as a Mind Dominator, was even more so. He specialized in analyzing souls and minds—controlling, inducing, and creating souls. In a sense, he was a programming master in the field of souls. His usual attack methods were nothing more than using his own soul abilities to create various consciousness algorithm viruses, destroying the enemy's thinking logic and soul itself... This was a capability that could only target intelligent life, even weaker than Baniel in terms of destructive power.
But if William wanted to destroy a civilization, he might be faster than Joshua. Baniel's rune abilities could ensure William could safely use his full power. This was why all forces in the Mycroft World held these two Legendaries in awe, not daring to show the slightest contempt. Fortunately, these two had no interest in power and were merely obsessed with Ancient Dragons.
"If you want to make further progress in creation, you could try visiting the Fairy Empresses."
Shocked by Joshua's rate of progress, Nostradamus felt quite gratified. He had only been worried that Joshua, being too young, might not find his path after advancing to Legendary too quickly. But now it seemed this young man's goals were even clearer than his own, which made the old mage feel both relieved and a sense of urgency.
"The four Fairy Empresses created the stable demiplane of Fairyland out of nothing in the void outside the world. This is almost a means of creating worlds. Even the gods praised this great achievement... For a while, Fairyland was quite closed off, ignoring matters in the Mycroft World. But recently, they've been very active, even creating something called 'Fae Cards' to build momentum for their return to the main world."
Nostradamus had a clear view of the fairies' recent activity. He could plainly see that behind the creation of Fae Cards, there must have been the Empresses' approval. The fundamental purpose was to make the whole world accept the existence of fairies, so that when the fairies truly returned to the world one day, no one would be surprised. Speaking of this, he nodded slightly and remarked: "To be honest, these cards are quite interesting. Israel and I played a few rounds—it's indeed a decent pastime."
You guys play too?
Joshua blinked. In that instant, a rather terrifying thought suddenly flashed through his mind—he could completely implant Fae Cards into the information terminals... Bah! No! If he did that, would the students still study?
Immediately expelling this thought from his mind, Joshua followed Nostradamus's train of thought: Fairy Empresses, huh.
Indeed, people had always said he should go see them. It seemed it really was time to communicate with the Fairy Empresses.
Nostradamus was staying at the Lord's Manor mainly to be able to go to the Great Aias Mountains at any time to repair the server. But recently, after Bariel and William jointly optimized the server algorithm, the entire information terminal network had stabilized considerably, so there was no need for Joshua or the old mage to intervene. Seeing that most matters here had stabilized, Nostradamus prepared to take his leave.
"To my shame, I haven't studied magic much lately. Now it's time to re-explore truth and strive for further progress."
With a flash of azure light, the old mage bid farewell and passed through a space-time portal before Joshua's eyes, disappearing from sight. This teleportation technique was indeed exquisite, and the warrior couldn't help but sigh that even if he tried to intervene, it would be difficult to interrupt the other's teleportation.
"Tinkle~ Tinkle~"
Just as the old mage had been gone for quite some time, and Joshua was about to put down the Steel Force scriptures and take Hei for a spin around the ice field, he suddenly heard clear bell sounds. By analyzing the electromagnetic signals that arrived even earlier than the bell sounds, the warrior stopped his actions.
The next moment, a wobbling light orb flew in from the door and pounced into Joshua's arms. Holding the constantly color-changing light orb, Joshua stroked its glowing surface while asking somewhat puzzledly: "What's wrong, Xiao Guang? What do you need so late?"
"Tinkle~ Someone, looking for, you~"
Cheerful bell sounds accompanied somewhat halting human speech. And in that instant, Joshua's expression suddenly changed slightly. From Xiao Guang's body, he sensed a power emanating from some great will.
Slowly, the colors on Xiao Guang's surface, which had been constantly changing like a neon light, gradually turned into a metallic gray. A fragment of Steel Force slowly emerged from its core. The warrior could tell at a glance that it was the Steel Force fragment from the Carlis World, long ago swallowed by Xiao Guang!
It's looking for you!
Xiao Guang's electromagnetic signal, accompanied by cheerful bell sounds, said this to Joshua. Joshua also extended his hand with a serious expression, pressing it against Xiao Guang's surface.
In that instant, two enormous wills, using a light orb as an intermediary, unfolded an unimaginable exchange across the void between several worlds.
"Long time no see, Steel Serpent Carlis."
"Long time no see, Soulflame King Joshua."