Chapter 3: The Multiverse Anomaly 5000
"Mr. Barbarossa?"
Seeing the tall mage walking slowly towards him, Joshua asked with some curiosity: "What brings you here?"
The person appearing before the warrior was none other than the Chief of the Sky-Piercing White Tower, Elemental Master Barbarossa. After a brief moment of curiosity, Joshua also realized that the figure before him was not his true body, but an elemental incarnation close to a normal human form.
This was quite common. Legendary experts with formidable combat power rarely wandered around in their true bodies. The Sword Saint who wielded the Holy Sword was a special exception. Because of their overwhelming strength, even simple outings could cause various phenomena, so they usually traveled in incarnations. As for Baniel and William, whose true bodies posed little threat, they could freely roam and adventure across the world as they pleased.
"After all, I am the leader of this world's largest mage organization... It's a long story, Count Radcliffe. Normally, this would be a time for pleasantries, but due to the gravity of the matter, I'll have to greet you properly later."
In response to Joshua's inquiry, Barbarossa shook his head slightly. The mage's expression was heavy, mixed with a bitter smile as if witnessing something absurd. Joshua could also tell from the demeanor of Barbarossa, Baniel, and William that this matter was indeed unusual. So, he followed the mage to the crystal pod in the center of the laboratory. Noisy voices could be heard.
"Impossible... This completely violates the essence of magic!"
"You're wrong. It doesn't actually violate it, but... it's even more incredible than a violation. I'd rather it had violated it..."
"Should we run another test? I still don't believe it!"
"Joshua is here. He's an expert in this field. Let him try."
At this moment, two legendary mages were engaged in a heated discussion. Setting aside the complex terminology, special magical jargon, and various regional dialects with Western Mountain accents in their conversation, the general gist was as described.
When Joshua arrived beside them, they turned around and enthusiastically greeted him: "You're here? Joshua, Barbarossa, quickly, we need your help!"
What could possibly cause three legendary experts to be so flustered and serious? And these were three legendary spellcasters—when it came to calmness and composure, no one in this world should surpass them.
Joshua was very puzzled. Of course, he wasn't one for idle chatter. Under their earnest invitation, the warrior approached the crystal pod. He looked inside, at the 'thing' that had even amazed the legendary experts.
Then, Joshua saw it—a spirited pigeon, strutting proudly inside the pod.
A white pigeon.
Joshua froze for a moment—he hadn't used his Steel Force vision to see through it earlier, so only now did he clearly see the creature behind the white crystal barrier. It was a somewhat plump pure white pigeon. The pigeon was pacing inside the crystal pod, occasionally making rhythmic 'cooing' sounds. Its small red bean-like eyes were quite sharp, showing it was in good spirits.
"This is why you interrupted my training and called me out of the Lord's Manor?"
Joshua clicked his tongue. His expression turned somewhat strange: "A fat pigeon that's barely enough to fill a gap between my teeth? You even traveled through time and space from the Eastern Sea to come here—"
"Don't complain just yet, Joshua. Can you use your Steel Force to probe the detailed life data of this pigeon?"
Before Joshua could finish his complaint, Barbarossa spoke first. The bald mage seemed to know more than the warrior. The Elemental Master watched the pigeon with a rare, tense expression, muttering softly to himself: "Damn it, it's actually true. How is this possible... This isn't magical at all!"
Baniel and William also echoed Barbarossa's opinion. So, no matter how unbelievable Joshua found it, he had to confirm that this pigeon was indeed the target of the three legendary mages. The warrior tentatively used his Steel Force perception to probe the detailed life data of the pigeon before him—a silver light emanated from the palm of Joshua's outstretched right hand, enveloping the pigeon's head like a beam of light. Exquisite alchemical craftsmanship, profound beyond measure, curse activation times precise to the day, potions that granted eternal youth, and witchcraft that turned people into animals."
William stared at the stone inside the crystal pod. The handsome bard spoke in a somewhat dreamy tone: "Witches were the monstrous image of mages in the eyes of commoners during the ancient era. Witch towers were mage towers. The monsters and golems guarding the witches were tamed magical beasts and alchemical constructs. Most of her abilities were normal—any mage could do them... Except for this one."
"Turning a pumpkin into a carriage, turning people or inanimate objects into animals... This isn't something magic can accomplish, Joshua. This is something that only happens in dreams."
"Needless to say, I understand this better than you."
Raising his hand, Joshua stopped William and Barbarossa, who were about to continue. He frowned deeply, staring at the stone before him as if trying to see through this ordinary limestone completely—but he ultimately failed. He had initially wanted to see this as a crude joke, but in the end, he had to confirm it as fact.
A 'fact' that seemed ordinary on the surface but could actually shake the very foundations of truth and completely destroy the existing spell system.
Giving life to inanimate matter? That didn't sound too difficult. Whether it was Baniel, who often summoned rune puppets to help with chores, or any mage proficient in elemental magic, they could do something similar. They could summon elements, command puppets, or have one person manifest into countless forms—even Joshua could do something like this. He had once used his authority as a source to create 'Chu Hao,' an unprecedented steel elemental.
But this profound magic was fundamentally different from turning a stone into a bird.
Giving life to an elemental was essentially creating a self-sustaining energy cycle and then imbuing that cycle with the most basic self-will, which was the simplest form of an artificial soul. With an energy cycle and self-will, even formless energy could exhibit life-like reactions. This was the truth behind creating elemental life—a kind of energy robot. As for steel elementals, their essence wasn't much more complicated. An authority from the world constructed a brand new energy cycle from nothing and fused it with steel. Joshua's power imbued it with will and wisdom—a convergence of spirit. In a sense, it was innate intelligence housed in a mechanical body.
These were all spells that seemed miraculous but actually had logical principles behind them. Even if they were complex, no one found them strange... But turning a stone into a bird was different.
"Particle transformation, from inorganic to organic, mass conversion... Bestowing spirituality, bestowing animalistic traits, bestowing muscles and even genetic instincts... How is this possible?"
Joshua muttered to himself, various terms spilling from his lips. The warrior's eyes were filled with unbelievable shock—only true experts understood the difficulty of 'transformation.' Turning a pebble into gold, turning wood into bread—these were profound techniques that delved deep into the fundamental particles, requiring microscopic mental control, keen observation, and precision to the extreme. Not even every legendary expert could do them. And now, a child from a remote mountain village could use an inconceivable-level spell like turning inorganic matter into a conscious life form?
"This isn't an isolated case—as you can see, William and I have also learned this magic of turning inanimate matter into pigeons. But it's less about learning and more about just knowing how to use it. I haven't understood its casting principles at all!"
Seeing that Joshua had fallen into the same shock they had experienced earlier, Baniel coughed and then slowly explained: "Originally, when we mages use magic, we need to understand all the runes in the spell, understand what kind of energy each rune can invoke, then arrange and combine them one by one, and finally compile a completed spell—just like how we've been programming the Information Terminal recently. We must understand what each command can do and write it out accurately to construct the spell's entity."
"But now... to use this transformation spell, I only need to expend mana, and then... and then I don't know how it happens, but it just succeeds."
Amid Baniel's almost complaining tone, William interjected: "It's like a magic scroll. When we mages cast spells in real-time, we need to use our minds to combine runes and invoke energy. But a magic scroll user only needs to activate it. They don't need to know how to make the scroll or how to transcribe the runes. They just need to gently touch it with their mind, expend a negligible amount of mana, and then it's done."
"Just like those alchemical guns and cannons of the Dwarves." Barbarossa followed up in a somber tone: "Pull the trigger, press the button—the user doesn't need to know how to make the cannon, only how to use it. It's as if some great existence has already prepared all the channels for using this magic, just waiting for us to fill it with the 'ammunition' of mana."
"This is a technological black box." Joshua also said in a low voice: "Or rather, a 'magical black box'!"
The four legendary experts fell into the same shock and confusion. They spoke in unison: "What the hell is going on?!"
"Fairy tale magic becoming reality... To be honest, this is truly frightening."
Even Baniel, who had faced numerous legendary monsters from the void and fought against various Dragon Kings in the Chronos World, took a deep breath. He looked up at the cabin above. The legendary mage who had first discovered this matter pierced through the world's barrier with his gaze, looking into the void. His voice trembled slightly: "This isn't an isolated case, Joshua, William, Barbarossa. I once went into the void and cast this spell in other lifeless worlds—I even cast it right next to the Chronos World, and it succeeded."
More than anyone else, they understood the significance behind this matter. Whether it was Joshua, William, or Barbarossa, their expressions changed—knowing about the existence of the Magic Net, they had originally thought the same, that this was probably a 'gun' designed by the powerful gods and experts of the previous era, and now an ordinary young sorcerer had simply found this long-sealed 'weapon'... But now, it seemed otherwise.
"Yes, that's right. Just as you think."
Looking around at everyone's expressions, the Rune Master, the old mage Baniel, nodded slowly and heavily: "This isn't a unique Magic Net spell inscribed in the Mycroft World by the predecessors of the Era of Radiance. It's effective throughout the known multiverse... Meaning, if this is an anomaly—"
"Then it must be an anomaly affecting the entire multiverse!"