Chapter 9: Black Forest Operation and Evil God Recovery 8800
Starfall 838, January 20th, deep within the Central Black Forest. Though it was winter, there was no snowfall.
In the center of the Mycroft Continent lay a primeval forest covering nearly a quarter of the continent's area. Ancient magical power, mixed with chaotic aura, tainted this land, making it fertile beyond reason. Because of this, all kinds of plants and trees here grew at a rate that made one's scalp tingle, and countless magical beasts and dragons found refuge in this Black Forest, able to breed and thrive in leisure.
Once upon a time, the Central Black Forest was far larger than it was now. A thousand years ago, at the dawn of the Starfall Era's civilization, it covered four-fifths of the entire Mycroft Continent, with only a few sheltered areas maintaining normal orderly environments. Now, due to years of continuous expansion, logging, and the reverse erosion of chaotic magic by the sparks of order, the Black Forest could no longer divide the four major human settlement areas. Instead, it had begun to show obvious signs of shrinkage.
But even so, the area of the Central Black Forest still exceeded that of any single human faction. Even the entire territory of the Northern Helgamos Empire could not compare.
Such a vast, primeval forest, full of magical beasts and ruins from the previous era, had been the main stage for countless legends and adventure stories since ancient times. Countless adventurers had come here for trials in their youth, and many strong individuals had risen to fame here. In this place, mercenaries had discovered ancient alchemical magic diagrams in the depths of the forest, becoming rich and famous overnight. Adventurers had unearthed the temples of ancient gods, ascending to the Ultimate in one step.
Legend even said that the founder of the Far South Commercial Alliance had obtained his first fortune from the Black Forest, leading to wealth rivaling nations and power comparable to a country.
And now, a team of explorers from the Northern Empire's 'Imperial Foreign Exploration Department' was undergoing arduous training deep within this ancient Black Forest.
"Priest, I don't think training in this damn place is any use at all."
Deep within the Central Black Forest, high above the ground, hidden among the foliage shaded by the giant trees' branches and leaves, five young men in camouflage, covered in mud and sweat, lay silently on high-hanging branches, staring nervously into the distance.
They carried short knives at their waists, and their heads were... perfectly fine.
"To be honest... I still don't understand why the higher-ups want us to determine the locations and ecological habits of 'Titan Dragonflies,' 'Platinum Magic Vines,' and 'Borros Giant Pythons.'"
Although they had been scolded by their captain, Priest, the observation process was so tense that someone couldn't help but vent their pressure through the psychic terminal: "Why do we, an exploration team that hasn't even reached Gold-rank, need to observe these legendary magical beast descendants that are Gold or even Ultimate-rank? This is the Black Forest! If it weren't for luck, we would have died countless times by now, right?"
"Otherwise, it wouldn't be called training, but a picnic."
To this, Priest, who came from the Moldavia Champion Academy in the Northern Lands and had once experienced the hellish training designed by a certain legendary expert, couldn't help but feel speechless: "Besides, it's precisely because the Black Forest is so dangerous that training here has value. Otherwise, what would we do when we reach an alien world with an even more treacherous environment?"
The five people lurking in the trees, waiting for an opportunity to observe the activities of the Borros Giant Pythons near a small hill in the distance, were the youngest elite squad in the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department. Although the conversation in the psychic terminal seemed unserious, during the three and a half months of Black Forest training, the five had perfectly completed every predetermined task. They had successfully survived in the central area of the Black Forest, known as 'certain death for anyone below Gold-rank,' using their exquisite survival skills, and had smoothly found the locations of their targets, the Titan Dragonflies and Platinum Magic Vines.
Regarding his teammates' complaints, Priest was quite dismissive. The environments of alien worlds were mostly unknown. Although the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department would try its best to select living alien worlds as targets, it was precisely because they had life that they were dangerous. No one knew the true situation of an alien world.
And in the Mycroft World, the place most similar to an alien world was the Central Black Forest, tainted by chaotic magic, with forty percent of its area still unknown. Next was the Bottomless Sea Abyss in the deep Far South, which was said to have been connected to an alien world hundreds of years ago, harboring many strange alien creatures, the Abyss Demon Dragon being one of them.
Furthermore, as the captain, Priest clearly knew the true purpose of their team's exploration of the various powerful magical beast gathering places in the Black Forest.
Why hadn't the major forces of the Mycroft World tried to eradicate this primeval forest? There were many reasons. According to the explanation Priest had heard in Moldavia, it was actually quite simple: the benefits brought by the Black Forest outweighed the losses it caused.
If all the legendary experts in the world joined forces, they could certainly uproot the Black Forest, completely eradicating eighty percent of it within a year, or even a few months. But setting aside the immense damage this would cause to the continent, the elemental depletion caused by the legendary experts mobilizing magic, the countless magical beasts living in the Black Forest, numbering in the hundreds of millions, more than the human population, would undoubtedly riot and stampede because their homes were destroyed. Even if only one-tenth of them charged the surrounding human towns, it would cause terrifying losses.
The existence of the Magic Tide indeed troubled all nations, but it also brought enormous economic benefits. Countless furs, magical beast flesh, and magical materials were practically delivered to their doorsteps, completely eliminating the need for each faction to form its own hunting teams to capture them. The daily explorations of various adventure teams could also stably produce rare resources from within the forest, not to mention the various ruins inside the Black Forest. Once an adventurer made a discovery there, the rewards were extraordinary. And wasn't their exploration team itself sent here for training precisely because of the Black Forest's special environment?
Compared to this huge benefit, building fortresses and sending troops to guard it every year was a trivial matter.
But the laissez-faire attitude towards the Black Forest was a thing of the past.
Since Starfall 722, there had been no large-scale faction changes in the Mycroft World. Although there were various small frictions between countries and factions—such as the conflicts between the Far Sea Holy Mountain and the Sky-Piercing White Tower with the Fishmen, the contradictions between the Seven Luminaries Council and the Sky-Piercing White Tower, the war between the Northern Empire and the Orcs, and the internal strife among countless kingdoms in the Western Mountains—these frictions and wars had not affected the overall structure, nor had they caused serious consequences like the overthrow and destruction of nations.
The stability of factions meant the gradual acceleration of development. War and friction were accelerators for technological research. Under years of investment and practice, the transcendent power of Mycroft Civilization became increasingly advanced and powerful, even reaching the point where it could crush magical beasts of the same level. By Starfall 810, if not for the unexpected Great Magic Tide, magical beasts would have found it difficult to even breach a single fortress.
The benefits of raw furs and magical materials gradually could no longer meet the needs of civilization. As for the exploration of the Black Forest, all factions had collected enough data. Now, as Mycroft Civilization was about to explore the void, the leaders of various factions had tacitly agreed that it was time to repair this ancient wound left by chaos and turn it into the backyard of civilization.
And Priest and his team were the advance scouts to ascertain the situation further.
"According to the news from the terminal, I heard that the Dean himself will personally take action, dealing with hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of the Black Forest area, expanding the Empire's territory by a huge margin!"
Recalling the subtle hints in the numerous news reports on the information terminal, Priest couldn't help but feel his heart surge with excitement: "After the mission is over, we might even get to see the Dean take action himself!"
And at that moment, as the surrounding mountains and earth trembled slightly, a dark shadow suddenly rose from the hidden cave beneath the small hill that the exploration team was observing, causing Priest and the others to instinctively hold their breath. An instant later, under the winter sunlight, the huge shadow revealed its true form. It was a black-red giant python covered in metallic scales, with a head full of sharp protrusions like a drill. Its two house-sized, vertically arranged snake eyes emitted a golden light, and visible waves of energy radiated from the snake eyes, like ripples in water.
That was their target, the Borros Giant Python! A type of transcendent giant beast that lived underground year-round, developing by devouring metal and rocks! It seemed their tracking was correct; this small hill was the entrance and exit for the pythons above and below ground. Instantly, the team members who had been complaining earlier all entered a state of high alert. They collectively activated the functions of the special information terminals on their wrists, recording the footage in the distance, and then transmitted it back to the headquarters of the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department in the far north.
And at the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department headquarters in the Imperial Capital, the Dean whom Priest had mentioned, Joshua van Radcliffe, was having a rather ordinary meeting with Nostradamus in the reception hall.
"A few days ago, the Fairyland issued an important diplomatic notice to the Empire. They complained that your main body often passes by the most popular observation point in the Fairyland, affecting their stargazing into the void."
The old mage held an information terminal in his left hand, from which a light screen floated. He swiped it a few times casually, then found the relevant notice. He shook his head with a smile and said: "There are also complaints from researchers at the observatory. They said there have been frequent alarms about 'large-mass void objects rapidly approaching the Mycroft World' lately, but after investigation, they found it was just a passing silver cocoon... Summon a Wandering Ice Elemental."
As he spoke, the old mage's other hand tapped the fairy card table in front of him, summoning an elemental life form made entirely of ice crystals, with a humanoid upper body.
[Wandering Ice Elemental, 3 Cost, 5 Attack, 5 Health]
[Arrival: Freeze itself for one turn]
[Chain: You cannot summon non-elemental creatures]
"It just means there are a bit too many steel particles on the outskirts of the Fairyland. My main body will automatically pathfind, usually patrolling areas with the highest particle concentration on its own."
To this, Joshua shook his head. He glanced at the fairy card table in front of him, then played a card: "Just treat it as a natural phenomenon. They'll get used to it... Summon Pirate Raider, attack the player directly. And I use Curved Scimitar to also attack you directly."
[Pirate Raider, 3 Cost, 2 Attack, 3 Health]
[Chain: If you have a Pirate card on your field, gain +1+0 and Charge]
[Curved Scimitar, 2 Cost, 2 Attack, 1 Durability]
[Chain: For each Pirate card on your field, gain 1 Durability]
The Pirate Raider directly attacked the health marker on Nostradamus's side, causing a red -3 to appear.
At this point on the card table, Joshua's side already had three creatures, each capable of directly attacking the player or dealing some direct damage that turn. Nostradamus only had one self-frozen Ice Elemental on his field, and his health was down to 17 points.
But Nostradamus didn't seem to care. He watched cheerfully as Joshua ended his turn, then spoke: "You've been laying low lately, too low. There are even rumors that you were seriously injured while exploring the void and are now recuperating in your territory, on the verge of death."
"Just rumors. They also say the Nature Mentor and the Elf Empress are having an affair, and that Pope Eagle has seventeen illegitimate children."
To this, the warrior shrugged, not intending to waste energy on such boring rumors: "Not to mention the relationship between Galannod and Hainvalo IX, but His Holiness Eagle has worked hard all his life. Where would he find the time to father so many bastards?"
Folk rumors were bizarre, with all sorts of messy information. But one thing was indeed true: he had been very low-key lately.
Ever since Joshua returned from the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground to Moldavia, he had stayed in the main city, never leaving the Northern Lands. On ordinary days, he would just walk his dragon, look at the sea, take his family on outings and shopping trips, inspect Winterfell Academy, occasionally visit the Abyss to see the sights, catch a demon or two to ask about the current situation in the Sixth Abyss. Life was leisurely and carefree.
Among these reasons was indeed that there was nothing much to do lately. Neither Carlis nor deep-space observations had yielded further news, and the anomalies at the Void Great Maelstrom wouldn't change much in a month or two. So recently, Joshua had basically stayed in his territory, quietly pondering the authority he had recently cultivated: the ability to create some kind of entirely new substance within his own body.
If Steel Force represented the origin of all matter and the essence of all known phenomenal authorities in the material world, then Fire Force was completely idealistic, the ability to change the world with one's own will.
The Steel Force Joshua possessed could simulate various extreme states of matter, such as degenerate matter armor, quasi-perfectly smooth substances with friction approaching zero, mirrors that could reflect almost 100% of radiation, and so on. These special substances provided great assistance in the warrior's daily battles and helped him adapt to various types of combat and environments.
The flame power from the Soulflame King's authority could use the burning of souls as a source to directly reverse destroyed reality, reigniting a world that had already been extinguished. Combined with the creation power possessed by the Ancient Dragon, it could even restore a world nearing terminal chaos back to order.
These two powers complemented each other. Combined with Joshua's own Soul Abyss, they were like adding wings to a tiger, giving the warrior immense confidence in countless battles. But now, facing legendary experts who also possessed various strange authorities and even powers that completely defied the laws of physics, Joshua felt he was starting to struggle a bit. Therefore, using a small world being born within him as a source, he developed the ability to create substances that did not conform to common theorems.
A world itself should be orderly and self-consistent, capable of stable and lasting existence. The common sense theorems in each world are actually slightly different, just as the organs and circulatory systems in different living beings are not the same. The world does not need to be perfect; it is enough to exist normally.
How are the common sense theorems of a newly born world determined? According to Joshua's experiments and speculations, it should be through a means of 'Order Resonance' between worlds, similar to the collective creation phenomenon in the Void Great Maelstrom. The worlds born around the Siberia World should have common sense theorems similar to those of the Siberia World. Similarly, the Carlis World, adjacent to the Mycroft World, also has a similar macro environment, allowing races from the two worlds to even migrate to each other.
If Joshua ignored the small world within him, its internal theorems would likely become very similar to those of the Mycroft World. But if that were the case, it would be meaningless. So, taking advantage of the fact that this nascent world was his own body, Joshua forcibly added a special substance to the new world: a kind of [basic particle that only exists in the world within Joshua's body, possessing quantum entanglement capability and allowing for faster-than-light information transmission].
But just adding this one substance nearly caused the world's prototype to collapse, forcing Joshua to rest for a long time. He thus understood that creating substances completely beyond the common sense theorems of ordinary worlds was extremely difficult. Every attempt was a challenge and subversion of the existing order.
But it was all worth it, because for Joshua, possessing such a faster-than-light information exchange medium was enough to make him several times stronger than before!
Humans, or rather, the thinking speed of all living beings, has an upper limit. Because information transmission is not instantaneous. Whether it's neural microcurrents, optical fibers, or multi-core joint thinking, the processes of information transmission, reception, storage, and extraction all require corresponding time. Even for souls, the linkage between countless basic soul particles takes time. It's just that the upper limit of the soul's thinking speed for ordinary beings is higher than that of the material brain.
Even the Old Pope, who could transform into light, had a thinking speed and information storage/extraction speed no faster than the speed of light. The amount of information that could be stored in a certain band of light waves was also limited. So even legendary experts, in extremely tiny timeframes, could make mistakes like 'can't react in time,' 'can't predict,' 'didn't think of,' and 'didn't notice.' It's just that the probability of such errors is extremely small.
It is precisely because of this upper limit that overly large creatures become slow to react. If a creature were as massive as an Ultimate Void Behemoth, comparable to a super red giant star, even if attacked, it would at most trigger an instinctive counterattack in the relevant area. Because of its overly bloated thinking system, its core thinking center might not even be able to receive and process the information that it was attacked.
But if Joshua's thinking, communication, and information transmission medium became faster-than-light, then it could be said that his thinking speed and reaction speed could be improved without upper limit! Even if his body grew to the size of a galaxy, as long as there was enough faster-than-light medium, he could instantly react to any information from the outermost part of his body! The larger his thinking organ, the faster his thinking speed. Joshua could even split his thinking center into hundreds or thousands of pieces, placing them in every corner of the multiverse, while still maintaining his thinking ability!
This was the terror of a faster-than-light thinking medium. An infinitely improvable thinking speed would gradually turn Joshua into an existence beyond the ordinary material world. For legendary experts, an instantaneous microscopic particle collision or split would be like slow motion to him... Of course, this was the most perfect scenario. In reality, it was impossible to achieve in the short term.
Because this special faster-than-light particle only existed within Joshua's body, and the world within him had not yet been opened. The mass of his main body was limited. Only after the world was opened and continuously expanded would he have the ability to mass-produce this transcendent particle, thereby rapidly increasing his thinking speed.
But for now, Joshua could already use this faster-than-light information transmission capability to ensure real-time communication with his family in the Mycroft World, even from the void or the other side of the multiverse, transmitting information. This way, unless the enemy also possessed quantum entanglement-level attack methods, no one could eliminate the warrior in an instant.
As long as there was enough of this faster-than-light medium, he could maintain constant information transmission. Even if one avatar was destroyed, his main body and other avatars could still receive the information.
At this moment, Joshua and Nostradamus were still chatting while playing cards. They began to discuss the Black Forest clearance plan, which was the biggest recent move for the major factions.
"Israel's idea is to turn the Black Forest into an imperial breeding ground that can safely produce various magical beast resources. The others also want to make the Black Forest a backyard. To achieve this goal, we must suppress and eliminate all dangerous magical beast groups inside the Black Forest."
The old mage's health was now only 3 points, and his field was empty. He was like a candle in the wind, precarious. In contrast, Joshua still had 20 health and five creatures on his field. He could defeat the old mage in the next turn.
But Nostradamus seemed completely unconcerned. He smiled and said: "We're naturally reassured with you taking action. But Joshua, I must remind you, don't kill too excessively. We want a safe Black Forest, not a barren wasteland!"
"...Do I look that ferocious?"
Joshua was quite speechless at this: "I've always thought of myself as a particularly kind-hearted, good, and righteous person. How could I possibly cause massive destruction?"
To this, Nostradamus said only one word: "Ural Plains." Joshua could only sigh, promising not to go overboard and accidentally wash the Black Forest on the Empire's border into a barren wasteland. After all, the Ural Plains, which had been turned upside down by the warrior searching for the Earth Mother Goddess's temple, had yet to recover its ecological balance.
And at that moment, a message came through both their information terminals. Joshua and Nostradamus were slightly startled, then learned the relevant intelligence through the terminals.
"The gathering place of the Borros Giant Pythons has been found too? Good. This way, I can suppress them immediately, preventing them from sensing the legendary aura and scattering everywhere, causing great destruction."
The warrior's lips curled up. He seemed very satisfied with Priest and the others' efficiency: "The exploration team's coordination is excellent. I think they can try a real void alien world exploration."
"Hmm, indeed."
To this, Nostradamus also clapped his hands with satisfaction. Compared to Joshua, he was even happier about the growth of the younger generation: "These young people are just a bit short of accumulation to reach the Gold realm. They are much faster than our generation."
"After all, resources are far richer now than decades ago. The average height of the new generation of imperial citizens is a full 8 centimeters taller than fifty years ago."
Joshua casually reported a number, then reminded him: "My turn is over. Play your cards or concede."
"No rush, no rush."
Both sides had now reached 10 cost. Nostradamus had only three cards left in his hand, no creatures on the field, and only 3 health left. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like he was about to lose. But the old mage still unhurriedly drew a card from his deck and said with a smile: "The real battle has just begun... My turn, play a card."
Then, he played the rightmost card in his hand!
Wooom—a low hum of magical power resounded. The moment this card was played, Nostradamus's half of the field instantly transformed into a deep blue magical domain. Within this blue domain, rippling like countless water patterns, a phantom of a white-haired, white-bearded mage appeared on the field. It was unmistakably the aged human form of Nostradamus!
On the fairy card table, the aged Nostradamus opened his grimoire, and three cards flew out from it, entering the old mage's hand.
[Space-Time Shadow · Nostradamus (Mage Legendary)]
[10 Cost, 4 Attack, 4 Health]
[Arrival: Put three 'Space-Time Distortions' into your hero's hand]
[Curtain Call: Destroy all 'Space-Time Distortions', wherever they are]
[——Hidden behind the endless ripples of time and space, a wise and mysterious shadow]
The white-haired mage stood before a crack in time and space, merging into the void, with the faint Void Observatory behind him. He was gazing into the distance.
[Space-Time Distortion, Legendary Spell, 8 Cost]
[For each spell card you have used this game, this card's cost is reduced by 1]
[After use, until the start of your next turn, gain the 'Space-Time Distortion' state. You and all your units take 1 point of spell damage, and summoned creature and weapon attacks are 0. This effect cannot stack.]
[——Your attack is infinitely close to me, but can never reach.]
Seeing Nostradamus play this card, Joshua's eyes widened: "Wait, your own legendary card?! When did it come out? There hasn't been a new expansion pack recently!"
"It was a while ago. Those little fairies invited me to make it."
Nostradamus smiled and stroked his beard, then calmly played a 'Space-Time Distortion' that had been reduced to 0 cost: "I can see that you didn't bring any effect-destroying spell cards or direct damage spells. For the next three turns, I am invincible."
Joshua glanced at his hastily assembled all-weapon and charge creature aggro deck, then nodded slightly, acknowledging the other's point.
In the next two turns, Nostradamus consecutively used two 'Ultimate Burst Magic? Explosion' and two 'Space-Time Distortions', dealing 10+10 damage to Joshua's hero, successfully completing a comeback victory.
[Ultimate Burst Magic, 10 Cost, Mage White Crystal Epic]
[Deal 10 damage]
[——BOOM!]
"Alright, the leisure game is over."
After clicking the game hero voice line 'I admit defeat, you've outplayed me', Joshua stood up: "Since the intelligence is all gathered, it's time for me to go back and prepare for the Black Forest cleanup."
"Hmm. Actually, I cheated a bit this time. My legendary card hasn't been officially released yet."
To this, Nostradamus shook his head. He asked with some curiosity: "Didn't those fairies approach you? The main production factories for fairy card tables are all in Moldavia. I thought your card was already done. I was planning to see what effect your card had this time."
"Of course they approached me. As for my legendary card..."
Speaking of this, Joshua, who had already stood up, couldn't help but smile: "That little fairy insisted on following me personally, saying she wanted to watch my process of cleaning up the Black Forest, to determine my power, and then finalize the design among several options."
"Well, I'm looking forward to that."
After speaking, Nostradamus, still sitting in his chair, waved at Joshua, who was turning to leave: "See you during the operation... Oh, Joshua, let me say it again. Don't focus too much on clearing out those magical beasts in the Black Forest. They are not our real target."
"Of course I won't forget."
Hearing this, Joshua, who had already reached the door of the reception hall, stopped. He turned his head and said with a smile: "Recovering the last remaining limbs of the Evil God 'Plenty' in the world, purifying the residual power of chaos, and completely erasing the beacon left by the Evil God in this world."
"This is the true purpose of the major factions joining forces to clean up the Central Black Forest this time."