Chapter 21: The Underground World
Galannod's brief confusion did not last long. After all, she was still a Legendary expert with an unyielding will. Aside from the Father of Nature and the entire future of the Elf Clan, there was virtually nothing that could shake her resolve.
"My apologies."
Taking a deep breath, she drew the faint green light that had been radiating from her body back within herself. The Nature Mentor nodded slightly at Joshua, a trace of a smile reappearing on her face. "You are right. The Father of Nature has long since departed. I need not doubt myself. I only need to be true to myself."
"If I am wrong, I will correct it. If I make a mistake, I will try again. My Legendary path and the Elf Clan are not so fragile."
Even as she said this, it was clear that Galannod was not in the best state. She noticed this herself and, with a hint of apology, bowed to Joshua. "I regret this, Lord Count Radcliffe. I invited you here only to discuss such tedious matters."
"It's fine."
Joshua didn't find it tedious at all. After all, he had received a Mother Tree of Life seed for free and had obtained some rather interesting information. Moreover, the Elf Clan had expressed willingness to join the expansion plan. He felt that his trip to the Eternal Lake had been well worth it.
However, he could also see that the Nature Mentor was not in a good state, so he took the initiative to take his leave before she could speak. "Since we've covered everything, I'll take my leave now. There's still some time before Hill and the others' wedding, so I'll take my people for a walk around Redwood City. If you need anything, Lady, feel free to call on me."
"Ah, yes... very well, Lord Count. Please, make yourself at home."
Caught off guard by the warrior's preemptive farewell, Galannod was momentarily stunned. She was about to respond, but could only watch helplessly as Joshua flew into the sky without hesitation, heading toward the horizon. She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say, and could only shake her head. "What an unpredictable fellow. I should have been the one to say farewell first."
"Perhaps... he was trying to save me some face..."
Murmuring softly, Galannod sighed and closed her eyes. In an instant, the humanoid form that had been strolling by the lakeside dissolved. Her beautiful features transformed into countless tiny roots and blades of grass. Her body became a strange humanoid plant, then sank deep into the earth. The roots were long and slender, the tunnel deep. From the entrance, it was impossible to see where the main body had gone. Only a faint emerald glow could be seen flowing deep beneath the Eternal Lake, like the veins of some enormous creature.
But soon, the opening healed itself like a wound, slowly smoothing over.
On the other side, Joshua flew back to Redwood City at top speed.
He ascended into the thin air of the upper atmosphere, flying at supersonic speed. This allowed him to travel between the Eternal Lake and Redwood City in just a few minutes. Combined with the straightforward and efficient conversation he had with the Nature Mentor, the entire trip took less than half an hour. When Joshua landed on the crown of the enormous redwood tree at the center of Redwood City, less than half an hour had passed.
Amidst the startled shouts and salutes of the guards and scouts along the way, Joshua landed directly on the wooden castle that housed the Space-Time Gate. The Elf reception team, who had been at a loss after the warrior's departure, hurried out of the castle. But before they could say much, Joshua spoke to them. "I've already spoken with the Nature Mentor. There's no need for all these complicated formalities. Just let me take my people for a walk around the city."
"Sir! It's not that we want to make things complicated!"
The leading members of the Elf reception team were mostly high-ranking officials from the major tribes—Elf nobles, in a sense. Their faces were bitter. Letting a Legendary expert walk around the city might not seem like a big deal, but if that person's name was Joshua van Radcliffe, it was a huge deal! Although most high-level factions already knew that the rumors about this Legendary warrior were false, facing his faint, despair-inducing aura was enough to make even those with slightly keen senses struggle to breathe.
Those with low strength were like people in the mountains, unable to perceive the mountain's grandeur. Those with great strength might not be able to match a mountain, but they could at least withstand the deliberately suppressed aura. Only those whose strength was neither here nor there, who were just barely capable and sensitive, would feel the full force of the Despair Aura.
There weren't many such people in Redwood City, but there were quite a few. Who knew what kind of chaos Joshua's walk would cause in the city?
"Don't worry. I'll restrain myself."
Sensing the anxiety and tension in the Elves before him, Joshua gave a rare smile. "I've said it before. I'm not some kind of monster. I'm a kind and reliable good person. As long as no one does evil, I can't be bothered to act."
After offering some reassurance to the still-nervous high-ranking Elves of Redwood City, Joshua roughly understood the current situation in the city.
Most of these Elf nobles were high-ranking members of the Langes Tribe, Hill's father's subordinates and relatives. Hill was currently meeting with Faina and the Elf Royal Court to inherit his father's position. These people, knowing Hill's relationship with Joshua, had come to welcome the Legendary warrior, hoping to make a good impression.
There was no cliché power struggle, manipulation, or conspiracy. The Elf Clan was still quite sincere. As the sole bloodline heir of the Langes Tribe's main family, Hill's union with a Dragon Lady who possessed Ancient Dragon blood did violate some ancestral teachings. But in the year 837 of the Era of Falling Stars, few cared about the ancient teachings from a thousand years ago. After all, Ancient Dragon blood would not disgrace Elf bloodline. Having stronger descendants was more important than pure blood. Moreover, Hill had a Legendary warrior backing him. Who would be foolish enough to seek death by opposing him?
The gradual dilution of racial bloodlines was happening across the continent. This idea ultimately stemmed from the increasing prevalence of Transcendent power. After all, at the Gold Ultimate level, modifying one's own bloodline was not difficult. Whether it was Liches, Vampires, Death Knights, Werewolves, Dragonmen, or various other rare bloodlines, they all traced back to powerful beings who had altered their own racial bloodlines. The difference between Elf and Ancient Dragon bloodlines was significant, but at the Ultimate realm, there was no essential difference. At the Legendary level, one could even be considered a new species, sharing only a spiritual connection with their original race.
Joshua didn't think too much about it. He still considered himself human. He arrived at the reception hall of the Redwood Castle and encountered the Divine Mechanism siblings, who were happily pointing at a light screen.
"This post is complete spam. I'm banning him!"
"Hey, sis, look at the admin manual. For this kind of situation, we give a warning first and deduct reputation points. Only ban them on the second offense."
"But look, he's posting food pictures late at night..."
"Then ban him." The boy's voice became decisive.
A faint blue light flickered in Ying and Lin's eyes—the glow of an Information Terminal in operation.
"Stop messing around, Ying. I gave you admin privileges so you could be fair, not to ban people randomly. Learn to handle things impartially."
Standing at the entrance of the hall, Joshua called out casually. "Lin, don't egg her on. Keep an eye on your sister. Don't let those garbage posts slide either. Maintaining order on the Winterfell Academy forum is important, but that can wait."
"Let's take a walk around the city first."
"Yes, Master." "Understood, Master."
The siblings replied in unison, obediently closing the light screen and leaving their seats to stand beside Joshua.
As Joshua had said, after the Information Terminal network began operating, he and several other Legendary experts shared super-admin privileges. The other administrative privileges were delegated to several Imperial Royal Mages who maintained the network. As for the forum, it was entrusted to Ying, Lin, and Number 3.
Number 3 was generally responsible for maintaining the most important trading panel, the core experimental template for the future External Expansion Department's Exchange System. The management of forum posts was left to the Divine Mechanism siblings.
Since Ying and Lin were essentially Psionic entities—humanoid "Fairies" in a sense—with their weapons serving as their bodies and habitats, adding extra functions was much easier for them than for humans. At their request, Joshua directly linked Ying and Lin's bodies to the Information Terminal server, granting them the ability to access the network across space. This allowed the warrior to stay informed about the state of the Winterfell Academy network at all times.
"By the way, Master, about that mission you mentioned for the underground world—34 squads have already decided to join!"
As they followed Joshua out of the Redwood Castle, Ying, while curiously examining the strange decorations around them, spoke cheerfully. "Half the forum is discussing this mission."
"The other half is posting useless garbage." Lin snorted coldly. Although he had advised Ying not to ban people randomly earlier, it was clear he disliked rule-breaking behavior even more than she did. "Posts like 'I broke up today, what should I do?' or 'The cafeteria food is terrible'—why do people post such things with a straight face?"
"I think the cafeteria food is pretty important." Ying, on the other hand, nodded seriously. "It's beef stew with potatoes every day. Even if I don't eat, watching them eat it makes me sick... Oh, by the way, Master, Ivan and the others have already entered the underground cave that Chu Hao dug."
"The First Squad? They understand my intentions. Good. Ying, keep me updated on their exploration progress."
Hearing that many people still had a spirit of exploration, Joshua felt quite gratified. He nodded and said, "I can sense that Lisa, Syndicate, and Chu Hao are not in danger. Let them play a little longer."
Joshua was not the type to insist on controlling everything. He was happy to see his students break free from his plans and venture out into the vast world to explore... Of course, they must not do evil during their adventures. Otherwise, the warrior would personally take action to discipline his disciples.
"Speaking of which, it's been a week. Lisa and the others still don't want to come back."
Thinking about this, Joshua couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled. "Is digging really that fun?"
It was indeed fun, but a bit tiring.
"Speaking of which, Mr. Syndicate, how many days have we been digging underground?"
On the other side of the world, deep beneath the Extreme North Icefield, a Dragon Girl with a pale face was lying on the head of a massive steel giant. "I've lost count."
"Eight days, you idiot." A deep voice echoed from within the Dragon Girl's body. "It's been eight days since we left the Lord's Mansion. We've been digging underground the whole time."
"Eight days? That's not too long." The Dragon Girl, Lisa, scratched her head. "But it feels like we've dug a really long way."
"That's because we have." The voice of Syndicate, the Flame Demon, sounded somewhat weary. "Although this steel giant was created before Master became a Sovereign, its essence is indeed exceptionally powerful."
"In just eight days, it has dug back and forth, creating such a long tunnel. If it were straightened out, it might have already pierced through the Earth's crust and reached the depths of the magma!"
"Magma?!"
The word startled the Dragon Girl, reminding her of the underground ruins in the Chronos World. After a moment of instinctive fear, Lisa frowned. "But Chu Hao isn't digging in a straight line. It goes up and down sometimes, and it bypasses some harder metal veins. I don't know where it's heading, but it doesn't seem to be going straight down."
"Zzzz, zzzzz."
Beneath the Dragon Girl, Chu Hao, whose body had transformed into a massive shield-type tunnel boring machine, emitted a series of serious electromagnetic signals. The Dragon Girl nodded earnestly. "See, Chu Hao says it's looking for something, not just digging straight down."
"It's just an analysis... Sigh, you foolish creature, you actually call it 'little brother'..."
Inside Lisa's body, Syndicate let out a deep sigh.
Ever since the Dragon Girl learned that Chu Hao had only been born a few years ago, she had unhesitatingly taken on the role of an older sister. And Chu Hao had actually accepted this relationship. The two of them communicated happily using electromagnetic signals. Although Syndicate could understand them, he always felt like he was on a completely different channel. Fortunately, both of them were quite obedient to his commands. For example, Chu Hao had avoided several underground cavities that Flame Demon scans had detected, saving time on digging.
Although Chu Hao wasn't afraid of being buried by a cave-in, Lisa wasn't as sturdy. The two reckless little ones indeed needed an experienced and steady presence to guide them. Thinking about this, the Flame Demon felt mentally exhausted. Before meeting Lisa, he hadn't worried about so many things in centuries.
But this kind of worry wasn't bad. If he could, he would be willing to worry like this forever.
The trio's actions were not aimless random digging.
"A strange calling voice..." That was what Chu Hao had said originally. It was a snowy night. Lisa and Syndicate were taking Chu Hao for a walk along the seabed of the Sea of Bewilderment. Transcendent beings were not afraid of icy water, only of strong currents. But Chu Hao's weight perfectly solved that problem. The trio used electromagnetic light to happily observe the strange deep-sea fish. It was then that Chu Hao mentioned a problem he was reluctant to share with Joshua.
"Zzzzzz, zzz, zzzzz..."
(It's a strange sound coming from deep underground, as if calling out to something. It's not specifically speaking to me, but sending information to all beings that meet its requirements...)
Chu Hao had been disturbed by this sound for a long time. That was why he was always digging tunnels and taking midnight walks—to escape the sound. Now, encouraged by Lisa, he decided to explore the source of the sound and see what was going on.
"Hey, wait! Stop digging!"
Syndicate was in the middle of recalling how their journey had begun when a sudden alarm went off in his mind. He issued a series of warnings. "There's some kind of barrier ahead blocking my mental probe... We're standing on top of an underground cavity!"
"It's about to break!"
"Zzzz!?"
"Huh?!"
The Dragon Girl and Chu Hao both exclaimed in surprise. But by then, it was too late. Syndicate's mental probe had been blocked, and his discovery came far too late. Chu Hao, transformed into the massive shield-type tunnel boring machine, was still digging forward relentlessly.
"Crack." The sound of something giving way echoed.
And then, in the next moment, the earth collapsed, the rock shattered. With a sudden sensation of weightlessness and countless falling boulders and clumps of soil, Lisa and her companions plummeted from the solid underground tunnel into a mysterious underground cavity.
"Boom!"
A tremendous roar echoed deep within the underground cavity. Just before losing consciousness from the violent impact, Lisa vaguely saw that this underground cavity was not dark. Various fungi emitting different colors of fluorescent light clung to the high ceiling, casting a faint glow. She could also hear the faint sound of flowing water—the rush of an underground river.
But all of this happened in a fleeting instant. In the next moment, the unfortunate Dragon Girl, caught off guard, lost consciousness from the impact of the sudden fall. Her robust physique prevented serious injury from the fall, but the violent shaking of her brain caused an inevitable blackout. In short, she had a concussion.
But in the next moment, the Dragon Girl's eyes opened again. However, a strange red light flickered in Lisa's eyes now.
"Damn it, Lisa's unconscious. I need to assess the situation quickly..."
Temporarily controlling Lisa's body, Syndicate stood atop Chu Hao's head, which was slowly transforming back into its steel giant form, and looked around. After a few seconds, he muttered in surprise and uncertainty, "Wait, fluorescent fungi, underground river, a massive cavity... Could this be what Master mentioned..."
"The Underground World?"