Chapter 10: Void Great Maelstrom 5300
Joshua's flight through the void lasted for dozens of hours.
In the void, simple speed and distance are meaningless. What separates one world from another is the pure 'space-time coordinate difference.' Two adjacent worlds are not physically adjacent in the conventional sense, but rather their coordinates have a slight overlap in subtle ways, while two worlds that are extremely far apart are, simply put, worlds with vastly different coordinates.
To move from one coordinate to another requires not speed, but energy level.
The higher the energy level, the stronger the power, the faster one can penetrate the turbulent currents of space-time and cross coordinates. Moving through the void is essentially using energy and spirit to determine and shift one's own space-time coordinates, which is vastly different from conventional flight... If Joshua's standard cruising speed in a vacuum could reach one-tenth the speed of light, thirty thousand kilometers per second, then in the void, he could shift coordinates equivalent to several worlds in just over ten minutes.
"Why not rely on the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground?"
Carlis's will had been constantly communicating with Joshua, telling the warrior much information about the remnants of Grandia: the survivors of the Grandia world had already begun to cultivate on the land where the flames had been rekindled. Summer seedlings covered the mountains and fields, and numerous professionals nervously guarded them. It was clear that this autumn would surely be a bountiful harvest.
Furthermore, many of the Grandia survivors had formed adventure teams and migration groups, beginning to spread out across the Carlis continent, searching for new settlements. Like saplings spreading their branches, they were exploring this new, yet barren, world.
The Steel Serpent Carlis was deeply moved by this, because with the proliferation and activity of intelligent life, its own nearly extinguished flame had actually shown signs of stabilizing. The flame Joshua had brought it was rootless duckweed, destined to burn out completely in a few decades at most. But now, the dying Carlis world was regaining vitality due to the activity of life. It was gradually improving, and getting better and better.
But for now, it didn't continue to lament on this matter. The Steel Serpent asked the warrior with confusion: "The coordinates of the place we're going to are extremely far. Using the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground to teleport would be very fast... Moving through the temporal turbulence and the Great Magic Tide like this isn't very efficient. Are you trying to train your void roaming ability?"
"No."
To this, Joshua responded with a brief answer: "I don't do meaningless things... I have my plan."
In fact, the warrior did have a plan.
The reason he wasn't using the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground and was instead moving through the void with his physical body wasn't to train his void movement ability, but to detect the density of the overflowing 'Steel Authority' within the Great Magic Tide.
Before Joshua left the Mycroft world, various regions had once again seen batches of 'sorcerers' and 'bloodline inheritors' awakening with strange abilities. Most of these people's abilities were very weak, and some even disappeared after a few days. But without a doubt, this meant that the Steel Shards within the Great Magic Tide had once again washed over the world along the energy tide. The major powers could still control the current situation, but what if more awakened individuals with unimaginable abilities appeared?
For example, an ability that had appeared before but quickly disappeared, one that could create ice without limit, and another that could generate heat without limit... Although these abilities weren't truly limitless—they consumed the Steel Force of the authority itself—if such powers continued to appear, they would inevitably cause chaos on a global scale.
So the warrior planned to use his time roaming the void to monitor in real-time, collect the Steel Shards in the Great Magic Tide around him, and then deduce the secrets behind them... Perhaps, as he himself speculated, they all came from the shattered worlds at the center of the multiverse. But that still needed evidence to prove, so he could use it to warn the Mycroft people and make the entire world vigilant.
As for the gains from this plan, they were not insignificant.
"In the dozens of hours of advancing through the void, I've detected over two thousand completely different Steel Particles... This means, by conservative estimate, that several hundred worlds have been destroyed."
During the flight, Joshua opened his hand and looked at his palm. In the warrior's palm, thousands of tiny specks of various colors had coalesced into a chaotic nebula, slowly rotating as if trying to condense into a planet. Staring at these fragmented Steel Particles, the warrior's expression was serious, and he couldn't help but be serious—the destruction of several hundred, nearly a thousand worlds—who could laugh heartlessly? It was hard to say if he had even seen over a thousand worlds in all this time!
"Among them, the vast majority are basic Steel Shards controlling elements like fire, water, wind, and earth. Only a very small portion involve special fields like space, mind, transformation, and transmutation... Fortunately, this means the impact on the world isn't too severe. But if that's the case, many wild animals and magical beasts might also awaken by chance. After I return, I should remind others to hunt these awakened magical beasts."
This was the only comforting thing. Because Steel Shards are close to the nature of fire, low-intelligence monsters aren't favored by them. Only a very few can obtain this special power from the void... Otherwise, with the washing of the Great Magic Tide, the Mycroft world might see a surge of creatures like super-powered cats and super-powered dogs.
"Speaking of which, Carlis, you said our target is a small world... What's its specific situation? How great is the restriction on supernatural power? And what enemies do I need to deal with?"
After the Steel Serpent's prompt that 'we are very close to the destination,' Joshua suddenly recalled this question. He asked Carlis with his spirit: "What does the so-called restriction mean? Does it mean I can't use power exceeding a certain limit?"
"Not exactly."
To this, Carlis, whose spirit had been with Joshua all along, shook its head: "The so-called restriction is a restriction of the world itself, not yours... The meaning of a small world is that if some huge existence enters it, it will burst it. You, as a Legendary expert, an existence comparable to a Void Behemoth, if you enter such a small world and release your power without limit, you can easily completely disrupt the world's balance and cause it to self-destruct."
"Fragile order cannot withstand a more massive order. It cannot bear your full descent, not that you are restricted by it."
"I see."
Hearing this, Joshua couldn't help but sigh, speaking rather disinterestedly: "So, it means such a world can't nurture any powerful enemies? How boring... Then why did it (the World Will) ask for help?"
"Because its current situation is very complex, absolutely impossible for the World Will alone to solve. Hmm, this problem is hard to explain now. We're almost there. It's better for you to talk to it directly, Joshua."
Carlis didn't know how to explain for now, because it had only been in contact with other World Wills in dire straits, exchanging information and helping each other. It only knew that a world urgently needed outside help and was willing to pay a very high price, so it notified Joshua.
To this, the warrior didn't mind. No powerful enemy was fine either. At worst, after solving this world's trouble, he could take a spin around the surrounding void, hunt some Void Behemoths for fun, and preferably find that Leviathan—Joshua had encountered it twice without finishing it off, which was somewhat annoying.
Thinking this, Joshua continued to shift his coordinates in the void. His speed was fast, leaving world after world behind him. Unknowingly, Joshua had arrived at a space-time realm far more distant than the Chronos world deep in the Abyss.
It could be seen that in the void, turned milky white by the Great Magic Tide, waves of heart-stirring ripples were spreading. These were traces of powerful beings traversing space-time. Against the vast void background, a shining silver line driving ripples was cutting through layers of white mist and energy tides, moving straight forward, cleaving through countless worlds.
And at that moment, Joshua, flying at full speed, sensed something was wrong.
"Worlds are getting fewer and fewer... Besides that, the density of Steel... Steel Particles is getting higher and higher?"
This wasn't an illusion. In Joshua's gaze sweeping around, the worlds he passed were becoming increasingly sparse, even ceasing to exist. He seemed to have entered a 'void' with no worlds flickering. And in the surrounding Great Magic Tide mist, visible particles of various colors began to appear and then disappear. They flashed in and out like sparks occasionally flying from a bonfire, almost like an illusion. Only the warrior, whose perception had surpassed the limit, could capture them clearly.
In his hand, the nebula formed by Steel Shards grew a bit larger. The Steel Shards Joshua had captured in the last five minutes were even more than what he had collected in the previous hours. Sensing this extremely abnormal situation, the warrior immediately stopped.
"What's wrong, Joshua? The destination isn't far. The World Will seeking help is right ahead. I can already hear its voice."
Carlis wasn't dissatisfied with Joshua's sudden stop; it was just a bit puzzled: "What are you surprised by?"
"These Steel Shards, Carlis."
Joshua observed the Steel Particles in his hand and replied with a complex tone: "This is very abnormal. They are too dense... And there are too few worlds around."
If the Steel Particles around the Mycroft world were as faint as dust in the air, then now, the Steel Particles around the warrior were almost like a sandstorm. The difference between the two was so great that it made one wonder if they were in the same multiverse.
But the Steel Serpent seemed confused by this... It was easy to understand, and Joshua immediately realized—for a life form as massive as a World Will, at least a fragment as large as the one it had given Joshua could be observed. Smaller particles might not exist for the Steel Serpent at all. They themselves were a combination of fire and steel; how could they see things that were like atoms to them?
So he said no more and continued flying forward, approaching the coordinate Carlis had reported.
Regarding the current situation, Joshua had a guess in his heart that was very likely true, but he didn't want to admit it easily, so he continued to observe the surrounding void.
But the more he flew, the more he observed, the more uneasy Joshua felt... Because beside him, there was still no sign of any world. Meanwhile, in the nearly blank void, the white mist of the Great Magic Tide began to surge. It was like dozens of rushing rivers, surging forward rapidly. The speed of this white energy was even faster than the warrior's. At a glance, it looked like a turbulent river surface with chaotic ripples, and millions of Steel Particles of various colors were like splashes leaping from the river surface, occasionally rising from the mist and then sinking back in.
Their speed was getting faster and faster, faster and faster, as if there was a waterfall ahead, a leak, an invisible force endlessly pulling them... This unknown existence was pulling the magic tide energy from all surrounding space-time realms towards itself, like a black hole.
Naturally, it wasn't a real black hole. The pulling force Joshua sensed wasn't strong. He could completely resist it and turn back. But the warrior wasn't someone who stopped because of a little unknown. Frowning seriously, he prepared himself and continued to advance with the surging magic tide.
The temporal turbulence in the void obstructed Joshua's vision. He couldn't see the scene in the distant void clearly, and naturally couldn't observe the source of the pulling force. But Joshua, with his vision hindered, seemed to hear some sound... Of course, there was no sound in the void. This was an illusion generated by a Legendary expert's perception of energy. He sensed that at the coordinate of the destination ahead, a colossal force was flowing and converging. It emitted an energy roar that resounded through the void, like the roar of a great maelstrom at sea.
And indeed it was.
Passing through layer after layer of temporal turbulence, just as Joshua thought this process would repeat endlessly, he suddenly felt his vision clear. In the instant before he could react, the turbulence that had obscured his Legendary gaze was gone. Because under the attraction of such immense energy, even the ripples of space-time had become uniform. The moment Carlis and Joshua looked up together to observe the void, they were both stunned. Two beings of great stature stared in shock at everything before them, then let out soft exclamations.
"My god." Joshua stared at everything before him, speaking softly: "What is this?"
It was a nebula vortex.
Colossal energy shook the void. The torrent of the Great Magic Tide churned space-time. Energy from all directions, from left and right, above and below, from all dimensions of the multiverse converged here. They clashed, churned, mixed together, and finally merged into one, forming a mighty torrent... A massive, silver-white vortex nebula composed of the 'Great Magic Tide' and 'Steel Particles.'
Like a galaxy, dozens of enormous spiral arms formed by magic tide energy rotated and stirred in the void. Against the pure white background of the Great Magic Tide, billions upon billions... no, an incalculable number of Steel Particles boiled within this vortex. They flickered with thousands of colors, like constantly flashing neon lights. And at the vortex eye, a beam of pure white light shot out, like a bridge, like a beacon.
Because of the unique void structure, because of the chaotic temporal turbulence... The power of the Great Magic Tide converged at this place, forming a vortex-like maelstrom. It was like a galaxy, but more magnificent. Joshua and the Steel Serpent Carlis were nearly dumbfounded, staring at it all—almost everything could be explained. This vortex spanning the void attracted all the surrounding Great Magic Tide energy. It was because of its pull that the density of Steel Particles suddenly increased, and the energy of the magic tide showed anomalies.
"How magnificent..." Carlis spoke after a long time, its tone full of admiration and confusion: "But why... How could such a massive energy vortex appear in the void? And why is there no trace of any world nearby?"
Like Joshua, the Steel Serpent had also noticed this: from the point where the Great Magic Tide energy surged abnormally and the density of Steel Particles increased rapidly, the surrounding void seemed to have no worlds. In this journey, neither long nor short, there was no flicker of starlight.
"No, there is still a world."
Just as Carlis was puzzled, Joshua, standing at the tip of one of this massive vortex's spiral arms, spoke up. His eyes flashed with silver light, as if trying to see through the essence of this colossal vortex. A few seconds later, the light in the warrior's eyes died down. He took a deep look at the center of this giant vortex, the vortex eye, and then said with a complex tone: "Look, right there."
"Right at the center of the vortex."
Using Joshua's eyes as a window, the Steel Serpent observed the distance. It hadn't come in physical form, only accompanying the warrior with its spirit. So, what Joshua could see, it could see. A few seconds later, Carlis, usually gentle and calm, almost never excited, exclaimed: "There?! At the very center of the vortex?!"
At the place the two great beings were staring at, the center of the vortex, a faint light flickered. It was the proof of a world, the shimmer of the world's outer membrane reflecting in the void. Displayed in the multiverse, it was a point of twinkling starlight... Now, the starlight was obscured by the overly vast energy vortex, but this couldn't fool a Legendary gaze.
"The world we're supposed to help... is located in such an environment?"
Looking at this starlight, stable but bobbing at the center of the immense vortex, the warrior was somewhat amused. He didn't know whether to sigh or rejoice: "You said it was a small world, Carlis. Deception is not good behavior. I thought Steel Serpents didn't have such bad habits."
"It 'claimed' to be a small world."
Carlis quickly corrected Joshua's statement, saying rather dejectedly: "At most, its external situation is a bit special... Alright, it's overly special. But I really didn't know. I was just relaying the message... Who knows what the situation was behind the spiritual communication?"
"Interesting."
The two stared again at the world spinning within this magnificent void nebula. Joshua spoke first: "Although it's very different from what I imagined, and the situation is very unexpected... But since I've made a promise, I will definitely fulfill it."
"Let's go, Carlis. Let's see."
He said quite cheerfully: "Let's see what strange trouble this peculiar world has encountered."