Chapter 29: Nostradamus's Wish
[There is a war in this world.
It has nothing to do with blades or guns, nor blood or fire. It is a war concerning civilization and progress, class and resistance. It is silent, unknown to all. One side of the conflict holds the broken chains in their hands, while the other is society itself.
Even so, this battlefield is equally arduous and bitter, and countless people have sacrificed their lives for it.]
How much legacy, and how many messes, did the Era of Radiance leave for the Era of Falling Stars?
Every time Nostradamus compiled data from ancient texts, he couldn't help but ponder this question that would never have an answer.
How could one possibly count it all? Everything in the Era of Falling Stars developed from the bones of the Era of Radiance. They inherited the magic of the ancient sages, inherited the battle qi of the ancient warriors. The gods passed down the path of holy light cultivation, and even culture and customs originated from those former races.
The nine major classifications of magic, the thirteen universal cultivation methods for battle qi, holy light meditation, blueprints for large-scale war puppets, floating city cores, the magic net... and countless other ancient technologies from underground ruins. Even the continent beneath their feet, the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground rotating outside the world, were relics of the Era of Radiance.
From this perspective alone, the legacy of the Era of Radiance was so abundant that the early ancestors of the Era of Falling Stars, with an initial population of just over a million, had developed to their current state within a thousand years. Nostradamus had no doubt that if not for the Black Forest, a remnant of Chaos obstructing them, the various human settlement areas could have unified their strength a century ago for technological exchange, and then developed the current mana-powered industry.
But correspondingly, the Era of Radiance also left behind countless messes—the Black Forest with its frequent black tides, the harsh world environment near the Abyss, the space-time passages connecting numerous chaotic realms, a dead world, countless evil gazes, and the hostility of the World Will.
The people of the Era of Falling Stars, in such an extremely harsh environment, used the legacy of the previous era to step by step reach this point. Such speed was considered fast even within the multiverse.
But this was far from enough... Facing the inevitable disaster, the evil god arriving in a few decades, this pace of progress was still too slow.
Nostradamus couldn't help but think of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, the Starry World, the Void Behemoth capable of annihilating a civilization, and the Plague Evil God behind it.
This was a power capable of driving one to despair... The Void Behemoth was manageable. He and Joshua could join forces to kill one. Now that both of them had greatly increased in strength, handling one each shouldn't be difficult. But who knew how many such behemoths existed? The Plague Evil God's infamous name still spread throughout the multiverse. The number of its minion clusters likely exceeded the total human population of the entire Mycroft World. If this evil god launched a full-scale attack on Mycroft World, how should they respond?
After all, this time, they no longer had the Sage.
Thinking this, Nostradamus turned to look at the warrior beside him.
By now, the old mage and Joshua had already walked out of the underground world and reached the surface. It was still deep night. Silver moonlight mixed with the aurora, making the night sky extraordinarily magnificent.
Nostradamus knew that this so-called aurora was not actually a natural phenomenon. It was one of the anomalies caused by the existence of the legendary warrior beside him—even suppressed, the powerful magnetic field still partially affected the surrounding world. It interfered with the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere, causing the aurora to appear regardless of the time or weather.
Since leaving that ancient Earth Goddess Temple, Joshua had been very silent. This incident involving the power of the Earth Goddess wasn't as serious as Nostradamus and the others had imagined—for example, a contingency plan for the World Will to break free. But even so, they still learned a very bad piece of news.
The Steel Serpent Mycroft had almost sacrificed its own existence to send distress signals to the surrounding worlds. If it could break free, it was willing to offer the World's Power.
Since he wasn't specialized in summoning or necromancy, Nostradamus didn't know exactly how great this so-called World's Power was or what kind of beings it could attract. But seeing Joshua's expression, serious with a hint of anticipation, the old mage understood that it would definitely be a troublesome enemy. Thinking about it, beings interested in the World's Power, even if not legendary, were certainly on par with Void Behemoths—transcendent beings not much different from legends.
"It's worth noting that Mycroft World is already located near the Abyss, and there are very few worlds with strong power nearby."
At this moment, Joshua suddenly spoke. He seemed to be talking to himself, casually voicing his deductions: "Most of the surrounding worlds are like the original Mycroft World, with their flames gradually dying out. Only a few are normal worlds. Such places can't nurture powerful beings. Only those Abyss Lords and Void Behemoths patrolling nearby are worth guarding against."
"That's still enough to be tense."
Because Joshua had mentioned it before, Nostradamus also knew that the Seven Gods and the gods of other races were currently unable to act, needing to seal the World Will. Some might even need to ensure the seal's safety. The old mage gently shook his head: "As long as one being breaks through the blockade, it could allow the World Will to break the seal. You and I both know the power of legends. If they go all out, destroying the seal underground would only take a few minutes."
In fact, this rift was clear proof. Joshua, going all out, had torn open a huge rift several kilometers deep in just over ten seconds. If he concentrated his power solely on destroying the seal, the speed and depth would be even greater.
"It would be good if there were an outpost."
Thinking this, Nostradamus stroked the spine of his grimoire. His tone carried a hint of suppression: "Although the observatory can observe the surrounding worlds, its observation targets are too large. It can't see humanoid legendary experts like you and me... If there were an outpost in the void that could clearly capture powerful energy fluctuations, defensive preparations would be much easier."
"This is precisely the significance of establishing the External Exploration Department. In my vision, the first task of the External Exploration Department isn't to find life-bearing worlds, but to establish a large number of early warning outposts around Mycroft World."
Joshua casually pointed, and silver light formed a light screen in mid-air. He said calmly, "If you want to explore the distance, at least the backyard shouldn't catch fire. After we resolve the Steel Serpent incident this time, the External Exploration Department will be officially launched."
Saying this, the warrior turned and nodded slightly to Nostradamus. He spoke with some emotion: "I basically haven't managed Winterfell Academy. You've been coordinating everything... It's been very successful. Without the large number of technical personnel trained by Winterfell Academy, the foundation of the External Exploration Department couldn't have been built so quickly."
"That's natural. Setting aside everything else, when it comes to training students, no one in the entire world can compare to me except Barbarossa."
Rarely hearing such direct praise from Joshua, Nostradamus showed no modesty. He stroked his beard with some pride, but then sighed, "Unfortunately, there's only one Winterfell for now."
At this point, the two had slowly walked to the edge of the North Ural Plains. They could see countless grassland beasts and magical beasts being guided by Winterfell Academy students to a special experimental area opened in another grassland. These students weren't very strong, unable to perform high-difficulty tasks like the First Squad or the dragon girl Lisa. So this large-scale activity arranged by the academy was one of the few ways they could easily earn points.
The two legendary experts observed these students from afar—young people who, though still young, were very skilled in using magic and battle qi. But they didn't approach. Standing in the distance, Joshua was silent for a moment before speaking: "Why is there only one Winterfell?"
The warrior's tone was puzzled. He watched these young people, who could be called the hope of the future, and his tone carried confusion: "I wanted to ask this a while ago. The Winterfell model is so successful. You should have opened more similar professional academies elsewhere in the empire... Even if they develop more slowly due to the lack of legendary experts, it's still better than nothing."
This was indeed something Joshua found strange. Over the past five or six years, although Winterfell Academy had consumed a large amount of liquid capital from the Moldavia Territory, it had also brought great benefits to Moldavia in return. As the lord, Joshua didn't treat money as money. His confidence in expanding the city whenever he wanted, without knowing exactly how much funds he had, came from Winterfell—even if professional academies elsewhere couldn't develop as perfectly as in Moldavia, someone should have tried.
Regarding this question, Nostradamus first nodded, then shook his head.
"It's not that I don't want to, but that I can't."
"Joshua, this empire isn't the people's empire. It's the emperor's, the nobles', and the transcendent beings' empire."
Nostradamus directly pointed out the most fundamental issue: "Except for you, a legendary expert who has no interest in power, doesn't manage affairs, and poses no threat, any professional academy established locally only provides local nobles with the power to become local hegemons, without spreading that power to all classes."
"No, I'm not, I..."
Hearing this, Joshua frowned. He clicked his tongue, wanting to refute, but after thinking carefully, he could only admit that Nostradamus was right.
And he also understood why Israel wanted to carry out reforms—just as industrialization in his previous life required liberating land and farmers from landlords, popularizing transcendent power in a transcendent world required liberating ordinary people with transcendent talent from nobles and transcendent beings.
"But we have three legendary experts, and Israel is the imperial emperor. I wanted to ask before—if we want reform, we could kill any noble unwilling to cooperate at any time, sweep the entire empire from top to bottom. It wouldn't even take three days."
"Revolution isn't a dinner party. When necessary, letting heads roll is unavoidable. We don't have much time left. There's no time to let these people slowly change their thinking."
When saying this, Joshua's tone was indifferent, as if human life meant nothing to him—he was indeed willing to protect the world and resist Chaos, but that didn't mean he was some saint. What he was willing to protect were the weak who couldn't resist unavoidable disasters, not those with power who hindered the world's progress.
Of course, he wouldn't really kill all the innocent ones. But imprisoning them all and using physical means to reform their thinking, Joshua believed he could do that.
"What use would that be?"
Regarding Joshua's simple and crude method, Nostradamus just shook his head speechlessly: "You can overturn the mountain pressing on the people, liberate them from the nobles, and give them the power to change their fate... But so what? You can't overturn the mountain in their hearts."
"Joshua, look at these students."
Following the old mage's words, Joshua looked again at the Winterfell students carrying out various tasks under their instructors' commands.
These young people obeyed commands and worked meticulously. Whether noble or commoner, they treated each other equally. No one felt inferior to others, and no one felt superior. This was the principle upheld in Winterfell Academy for many years: status is meaningless; ability comes first.
"You can ask these students, who seem to have no distinction between noble and commoner, what their future aspirations are."
Nostradamus's tone was calm, but Joshua could hear a hint of coldness and anger. Regarding this question, the warrior didn't actually pick someone at random to ask, because he already knew the answer.
"They want to become big shots."
Shaking his head, Joshua said this: "Learn magic, and you become a noble. Become a knight, and you can expand the empire's territory. Become a priest, and you can lead a church, then manage a diocese, and finally become a bishop or archbishop—big shots on par with counts or even dukes."
After hearing this answer, Nostradamus closed his eyes: "Yes, you're right. It's that simple."
"Their current equality comes from thinking that the other person will also be a big shot in the future. When they return to their hometowns, they will all be 'ruling classes' that rule over commoners, solidify classes, and leave almost no room for commoners to rise... That's why nobles can laugh and talk with commoners, and the son of a count can put his arm around the son of a hunter."
This was the first time Joshua heard Nostradamus suppress his emotions like this. He felt as if the other person was a volcano about to erupt. But soon, the old mage calmed down again. He coldly observed all this, then revealed a cold smile: "That's how it is. Everyone knows that legendary experts have the power to change heaven and earth. You and I joining forces could even erase the entire Great Aias Mountains from the map. Killing some local tyrant nobles is easier than turning over a hand... But without enlightening the people, without making the masses awaken, without overturning the mountain in their hearts, even if they gain transcendent power, they will only become new oppressors."
"Enlightening the people, huh."
Regarding this, Joshua couldn't help but think of the world he once lived in. He recalled the wars of thought and belief written in history books. He suddenly realized that Mycroft World, this society he considered quite primitive, had also reached this stage, and the first step of this stage seemed about to happen before his eyes.
"Popularizing knowledge, universal literacy, compulsory education, collective political education starting from middle school..." Various teaching methods developed in his previous life flashed through his mind. Joshua couldn't help but fall silent. He didn't know exactly how the revolution back then happened or how it succeeded. But he knew that enlightening the people was imperative. He just didn't know whether such a large-scale transformation of the world was appropriate.
After all, his previous life didn't have transcendent power. If everything was copied directly, would there be accidents? This world was a world of magic and battle qi, completely different from the relationship between farmers and landlords in his previous life...
Because he knew more, he hesitated at this moment.
"Do we have the right to choose the direction of future society for humanity?"
Joshua asked this.
"You're wrong, Joshua. We never chose the future path for humanity."
Saying this, Nostradamus instead curled his lips. He looked up at the brilliant starry sky and aurora: "The words you said to me not long ago have stayed in my heart... You're right. We just led them forward, to this point."
"Then, humanity chose this path."
"...Hahahaha, using my own words to reply to me."
After hearing this, Joshua first narrowed his eyes, seeming lost in thought. But soon, he laughed quite heartily: "I was still worried about you. But now it seems you and Israel have long thought of a countermeasure, right?"
"Yes."
Answering briefly, Nostradamus also laughed. After the brief laughter, the old mage's words sounded again, making Joshua pause slightly: "Just a few days from now."
"We originally planned to tell you this news earlier, but since you went to the Far South to attend a friend's wedding, we didn't disturb you."
Nostradamus met Joshua's gaze and said sincerely: "Lord Count Radcliffe, please be sure to attend then."
"Let us together, witness the arrival of a new era."