Chapter 12: The Secrets of the Seven Gods
Before leaving Winterfell Academy, Joshua took the opportunity to visit Ying and Lin, who were now busy with their own affairs.
The warrior's arrival did not disturb them, nor did it disturb Nostradamus and Israel. The legendary experts gathered here silently and then departed just as silently.
At this moment, Ying was wearing a small-sized instructor's uniform, her hair tied into a ponytail, seriously discussing the upcoming graduation itinerary with several instructors. Joshua could hear the Divine Mechanism girl negotiating with an observer from the Imperial Royal Mage Association about post-graduation internship placements for graduating students. She spoke eloquently, even using a Psychic Terminal to project a holographic list, explaining in detail the advantages and specialties of Winterfell's mage department graduates.
Lin, meanwhile, stood to the side, diligently recording and calculating the resources needed for the entire itinerary, future internships, and the "Winterfell Special Entrepreneurship Fund." He had long been the steward of the entire Lord's Manor's livelihood, and planning a school's finances was clearly an underutilization of his talents. Joshua could even see him somewhat distracted, handling everything smoothly through sheer physical instinct.
The two adorable little ones had both grown into talents capable of standing on their own, earning respect from others through their own abilities, without relying on his authority.
Moreover, their strength had also progressed. Although the energy fluctuations of Divine Mechanisms were very subtle, Joshua could clearly sense that both were around Gold High-rank. This was mainly because it was difficult to define the boundary of "Ultimate Essence" for Divine Mechanisms, so the classification was somewhat broad.
Whether Gold High-rank or Ultimate-rank Beginner, such strength was undoubtedly formidable for their age.
After all, it had only been eight or nine years since Joshua pulled them out of the family's basement. In less than a decade since awakening, possessing such power was certainly partly due to Joshua's extraordinary strength as their master, but the persistence and effort of the two Divine Mechanisms were also evident to all.
Even calculating from the time they were created—when Joshua, after his birth, extracted two wrist bones to create the prototype Divine Mechanisms—it was only about thirty years. A Gold High-rank or Ultimate-rank at over thirty years old was already a rare genius! Moreover, considering their true forms were two nearly indestructible Sacred Artifacts, even an Ultimate-rank Peak expert would be honored to have them as heirlooms. They were divine objects worthy of being a nation's treasure, and even ordinary legendary experts would not lose face using them.
Unfortunately, Joshua was no ordinary legendary expert.
He was excessively strong, even to the point of absurdity. Forget weapons; even the power of his fists could break through world barriers. His body was one of the most durable substances in the observable universe.
Such powerful fists and body meant he had no need for weapons or armor, because all tools, all items, all equipment were inferior to the transcendent power system of a warrior who was self-sufficient and relied on nothing external.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this that his weapons had found their own paths.
"The technology of Divine Mechanisms originates from the artificial fairies of that era... The Psionic Energy body technology also stems from imitating fairy bodies."
Joshua watched the busy Ying and Lin and murmured softly, "It's time to visit the Fairyland once."
Ying and Lin had accompanied Joshua through countless great battles, even the ultimate battle in the Star Sea World against millions of monsters. The two Divine Mechanisms had fully experienced it, absorbing chaotic energy far beyond Gold and Ultimate-rank, building an extremely solid foundation. However, because the original creation of the Divine Mechanisms was not a perfected technology—after all, they were ultimately seventh-generation weapons specialized against chaos, an "order" fairy targeting the element of "chaos."
Because the original foundation was not solid, even with all the "experience" they had gained, Ying and Lin could not level up alongside Joshua, gradually failing to keep pace with the warrior's steps and ending up in their current state.
To change this, Joshua made up his mind to go to the Fairyland as soon as possible—no, immediately.
Not just for Ying and Lin, but also for himself. He had many questions to ask those seemingly innocent Fairy Empresses—about the world, elements, the void, and the Sage. The puzzling mysteries, the ancient heritage—there was so much he wanted to learn from these ancient fairies.
Thinking this, Joshua turned and left. His figure vanished in a ripple of space-time, leaving only Winterfell Academy at the foot of Nissier Snow Mountain standing in the cold summer mist.
The Fairyland was isolated from the world. Basically, there were no direct space-time passages in the Mycroft World leading to this mysterious plane.
The only direct space-time passage was located in the Three Mountains Holy City of the Empire, the former site where the Diamond Royal Family made a pact with the fairies. There, an avatar of a Fairy Queen was stationed, watching over everyone who wished to pass.
After all, the Diamond Royal Family was, in a sense, part of the fairies. It was said that in every generation of the Imperial Royal Family, one person would be reincarnated as a fairy after death. In this generation, it seemed to be the Sixth Prince, Adrian, who created the Fae Cards. This young man, who had already entered the world's top twenty wealth rankings through his Fae Cards, was currently traveling with his sister in the Far South. Since the Empire's situation was no longer as chaotic as when Israel was severely injured, and the future was basically clear, these princes and princesses, who were destined never to become Emperor or Empress, naturally had to gradually distance themselves from the center of imperial power.
All this was to say that there were basically no fast passages directly to the Fairyland in the Mycroft World. Even Joshua, if he wanted to go to the Fairyland, would either have to fly through the void and descend into that plane, or use a transfer point for indirect teleportation.
So, was there a place that could connect both the Mycroft main plane and the Fairyland, which lay outside the world?
There was—the Boundless Heaven, and only the Boundless Heaven.
With a not-too-intense space-time fluctuation, a faint teleportation ripple dissipated in the void's ripples. Joshua's figure appeared in the Boundless Heaven, which had now merged into the Mycroft World.
A long, long time ago, during the Era of Radiance, the Boundless Heaven was a region similar to a "central hub." The entrances to the gods' divine kingdoms—their private demiplanes—were all located in the Boundless Heaven. There was also a door here leading to the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground and the Unified Grand Database. The gods' followers and experts who had reached the Ultimate-rank realm could enter and exit the Boundless Heaven using their own power, traveling between various planes and demiplanes attached to the Mycroft World.
For convenience, many archmages' towers and private space bubbles also granted access permissions to the Boundless Heaven, allowing them to roam the void.
Now, although the glory had faded, and countless private planes and divine kingdoms had fallen and been destroyed, the Boundless Heaven still retained many of its original functions.
Joshua stood in the void of the Boundless Heaven, searching for the Fairyland's teleportation beacon left within it. The process was not slow; it would take at most a few seconds to find. While searching, the warrior also had the leisure to observe his surroundings, carefully examining this dwelling place of the gods.
The Boundless Heaven, as its name suggested, appeared to be a void without boundaries. However, compared to the external void, it was very gentle, stable, without any fluctuations of space-time turbulence. Back then, when he challenged Eagle, he and the old Pope had fought their way into the Boundless Heaven. Even the full-force energy impact of two top-tier legendary experts could barely stir up ripples in this world, at most shattering quite a few barriers between the Boundless Heaven and the void.
So why was the Boundless Heaven in this state, identical to the void? It seemed this was the case even during the Era of Radiance.
Joshua found it somewhat difficult to understand this logic. In his view, leaving such a vast plane completely empty was a terrible waste. With so much land, wouldn't it be great for farming? If not that, at least build houses and accommodate more people. According to records, during the Era of Radiance, the core area was overcrowded, and housing prices had risen to an absurd level. An Ultimate-rank expert might not even be able to buy a house with all their possessions.
If nothing else, hang a large silver-white light orb in the middle, build a few steel platforms, and casually station a dozen or two elite adventurer teams, using this world as a hub to explore other worlds. Although it had some sense of déjà vu, it was still a decent choice, at least better than leaving it empty.
But the gods, the Sage, and even the current Seven Gods had done nothing. They had always maintained the Boundless Heaven's silence, nothingness, and emptiness until now.
The new Seven Gods of Humanity had quietly stayed in the Boundless Heaven for a thousand years. What exactly were they doing here? Joshua had always been curious about this, but every time he interacted with the gods, he had more important matters to attend to, so he never had the chance to ask. Just like now, he was in a hurry to go to the Fairyland, so even with doubts, he didn't plan to stay in the Boundless Heaven any longer to see what the gods were doing in this endless void.
But just as the warrior, filled with doubt and curiosity, was scanning the Boundless Heaven in all directions, he suddenly noticed a strange void phenomenon.
—At the distant end of the void, faint lights appeared.
These lights were not clear, almost like an illusion.
Too great a distance, not very conspicuous radiance. If the person here were not Joshua, not a legendary expert like Joshua who could glimpse hundreds of worlds even through the space-time turbulence of the void, then no one could possibly notice the different lights appearing at the distant end of the void.
—A cyan-purple light, intense yet dim.
—A deep black light, stable yet profound.
—A sky-blue light, symmetrical yet intricate.
—A pale green light, regular yet scattered.
—A light gold light, complex yet distinct.
—An iron-gray light, stubborn yet changeable.
—And finally, a pure white light, flickering like stardust, yet revealing endless vitality, scattered specks of light.
Seven absolutely different, yet perfectly harmonious lights shone in seven directions of the Boundless Heaven. They evenly occupied all the territories around the Boundless Heaven, constantly changing and mixing in a way that was extremely complex yet as simple as a jigsaw puzzle, ultimately forming a halo that enveloped the entire Boundless Heaven.
What was that?
Even Joshua could not discern the secrets behind these lights. Of course, he knew that behind each light was the divine power of a god. He could even name each god based on the color.
But why?
What were the gods doing?
In the past thousand years, they had hardly interfered with the mortal world. Even the Church of the Seven Gods, their representatives, rarely heard direct instructions from them. They were like silent but omnipresent observers, never appearing, never speaking, almost non-existent unless necessary.
Unless other gods made the first move, they would not act. Even if the Mycroft World faced racial extinction or the collapse of heaven and earth, it seemed to have nothing to do with them. Although these beings were called gods, they had never displayed the divine power to transform heaven and earth or lead civilizations and races. They also lacked the almost instinctive arrogance of gods, being selfless to a strange degree.
Behind the Seven Gods, there was definitely a great secret, closely related to their mysterious actions and even the existence of the entire Boundless Heaven. Joshua knew this clearly. As a legendary expert who had communicated with the God of Might multiple times, he understood that although the Seven Gods seemed indifferent, they definitely had some mysterious mission behind them. Otherwise, they would not be so urgently searching for "God Awakeners" and "God Ascendants" to replace themselves.
The mission behind them was definitely more important than their own existence. That was why the God of Might, who was not even afraid of "Divine Annihilation," was hastily patrolling the world, searching for his successor.
But as mentioned before.
Now was not the time to pursue this matter.
Joshua had already found the path to the Fairyland. He threw a punch, gently "opening" a space-time passage, and then cleanly disappeared into the mysterious Boundless Heaven.
Just as he had thought before—whatever secrets the Boundless Heaven held, they did not seem to be bad for the Mycroft Civilization of the Era of Falling Stars. So instead of rushing to find the truth, it was better to wait patiently until the time was right, and they would naturally learn the truth.
On the other side of space-time.
A certain squad, also in the middle of teleportation, had fallen into great danger.
"Priest!!! You really are Lord's student!"
In the void, a miserable howl echoed through the chaotic space-time turbulence. Within a tumbling rainbow light of teleportation, the voice of a certain knight, full of vigor, could be heard: "Setting aside everything else, you've already mastered his trouble-attracting constitution to perfection!"
"Nonsense!"
Another voice, seemingly calm but actually panicking, sounded in the turbulence: "Teacher and I don't have such a constitution at all! It's clearly your jinx—Ahhh! What's happening? The teleportation destination has changed again! Where are we going to end up?!"