# Chapter 15: Lost Star River·End
## EX: The Simple One
Why was the world born?
Ancient theologians and philosophers were once enthusiastic about discussing this lofty and sacred topic.
Some said that the world was born from the divine, whether through seven days of creation, a giant splitting the heavens, or an ancient god's dream.
Some said that the world was born from an explosion, a fluctuation, a flame that began burning who knows how, or even a god's Italian sauce having the wrong amount of ingredients.
Many people have discussed this kind of question, arriving at many kinds of answers. And depending on civilization, species, and thinking habits, each civilization, each race, and even each person had a different view on this. But regardless, in the end, they all chose an answer, told themselves that this was the reason 'why the world was born', and then happily cast the question aside.
After all, no matter how the world was born, what did it have to do with the daily life of ordinary people? No matter how it happened, it was all the same, all irrelevant.
Then the question arises.
Why was the world born?
Joshua slowly opened his eyes, then calmly looked around.
He was located in a dark and empty enormous space. He could not see the dome, could not see the ground, had no boundaries on any side. Everything was like this, just like the state of the entire universe before the concept of 'light' was born.
But at the same time, Joshua discovered that as he opened his eyes, endless light began to shine with himself as the center. One after another, regularly arranged, prismatic, dazzling silver crystals released endless light from the inside out, illuminating the entire world in an instant.
Through the Steel Force vision and multi-layered energy perception, Joshua immediately knew that the place he was currently in was a special small world almost entirely composed of silver steel crystals, with extremely high density and extremely high gravity.
Saying it this way was actually not appropriate.
Because it was not about 'being located'.
Joshua perceived this world. An invisible great force swept through the empty land and sky, just like a person rubbing their forehead, thinking about a problem.
In reality, this world was his body.
And what the warrior now perceived as 'self' was located at the center of the entire world—a super-high-density Steel Force aggregate releasing endless light. In other words, it was the sun of this world in a substantive sense.
"So it's a hollow world." He murmured softly: "Did I succeed?"
Thousands of years ago in the past, the ancients had pondered the structure of the world countless times. Some believed that the sun, moon, and stars in the sky revolved around the world. Some believed that the world moved around the stars, sun, and moon. Others believed that the world was a sphere, with all living beings living on the inside of the sphere, and at the very center of the sphere were the sun, moon, and stars that all things and beings saw.
In reality, they were all correct.
The multiverse has countless worlds—heliocentric theory, geocentric theory, round heaven and square earth, square heaven and round earth, abyss worlds, floating island worlds, water worlds, mountain worlds, lava worlds, atmospheric worlds... There are only structures that humans cannot imagine, never worlds that do not exist in the multiverse.
And the underground world is one of the countless different types of worlds.
Regardless of whether the description is accurate, let's first make an analogy, imagine it.
The world is a balloon, a very thick balloon.
The outside of the balloon is the world barrier. Its sturdiness is generally proportional to the size of the world. The larger the world, the sturdier its barrier, harder to penetrate. The barriers of small worlds are easy to break; whether from inside or outside, life can easily travel back and forth. But the barriers of large worlds are especially sturdy. If one's strength does not reach a certain level, they might not even be able to perceive its existence.
According to calculations, if a world were so vast as to have countless galaxies, its mass would make the sturdiness of its world barrier reach an inconceivable level. No power that could penetrate it would exist in the observable universe. Those outside could not enter, and those inside could not leave, isolated and separated from the entire multiverse, like a black hole and its event horizon.
And the inside of the balloon is the world where life usually lives.
Depending on the world's shape, core, and energy density, the internal structure of the world is also mostly different. Some worlds might have no matter at all, only pure energy—these are the elemental planes in the common sense. Some worlds might be completely filled with matter, with no atmosphere at all, and life is born in endless lava—these kinds of worlds are the rarer 'mountain worlds' and 'lava worlds'.
However, due to the resonance of order, the vast majority of worlds have a roughly realistic structure with balanced matter and energy, suitable for the birth of life. Among these structures, the most common are the round-heaven-square-earth continental worlds and the single-star worlds similar to small-scale star systems.
As for the world that Joshua had now transformed into, it was a 'hollow world', even rarer than elemental worlds.
Imagine it: the world is a hollow sphere. The outer wall of the sphere is the world barrier, and the inside is the land where life lives. And the center of the world is the sun that illuminates all things in the world.
More specifically, it is like this symbol.
After figuring out the current situation, Joshua clearly knew that after destroying the Decay Evil God, the advancement he had risked should have been a perfect success.
The entire sealed world, along with the world embryo of his original body, was smelted and forged into a brand new world in the flames that used the Evil God's corpse as raw material. The size of the entire world was about one light-second.
In short, this was a peculiar world without 'gravity' in the usual sense.
Yes, within Joshua's world now, there was no gravity to speak of. The thin layer of land attached to the edge of the world could not provide enough mass and gravitational attraction.
But correspondingly, the sun at the center of the world, while exhibiting strong gravitational pull, released a continuous and evenly distributed high-energy energy flow, 'pressing' all matter into its original position, maintaining a delicate balance.
One could see that above the heavens and earth, there were countless prismatic silver crystals, standing like obelisks. They reflected the sun, which was Joshua's light, illuminating the entire world.
And at the center of each prismatic crystal, a hazy light orb rotated.
Joshua knew that these were the souls of the former Decay Evil God's mother civilization, as well as all the expeditionary forces and their descendants.
For a naturally born world to give birth to life, it either required a coincidence or the presence of powerful beings like Ancient Dragons or Black Mist Mothers to catalyze it. And after life was born, the souls that embarked on the path of transcendence due to various reasons could, in turn, help the world itself absorb free energy from the void of the multiverse, driving the world to gradually evolve towards a high-spirit, high-magic environment.
It was rare, or rather, basically impossible, for any world to have a large number of souls at the very beginning of its birth, even the Fairyland created by the Fairy Empress was like this.
But Joshua was different. His world was born from burning the body of an Evil God, with countless souls being reborn together with his world.
The souls in these steel crystal prisms would, in the future, gradually evolve into some kind of natural life form. This kind of life form, like the Silver Fairies, would be born in Joshua's world, using Joshua's power as their source. In a sense, they would be his vassal race.
"So this is the beginning of a vassal race... Fortunately, the Decay Evil God's vassal race was completely wiped out thousands of years ago; otherwise, this time would definitely have been much more troublesome."
The warrior murmured, then closed his eyes again.
The matters of the newborn world could be observed slowly later. This was now his body. There was still a long time in the future; there was no rush to understand everything immediately.
Now, the most important thing was to communicate with the outside world.
Joshua, in a subjective sense, closed his 'eyes'.
But endless Steel Force, electromagnetic waves, gravity, and shockwaves began to burst forth from the 'sun' of this world, then spread outward into the void of the multiverse beyond the world.
Almost in an instant, all the information around the world was collected by Joshua.
He was now located at the edge of the World Star River, in the area where the original sealed world was. Countless rune structures were orbiting his body, seemingly protecting and stabilizing the world's form.
In the void gap not far away, there were life reactions from a group of Void Behemoths, as well as energy fluctuations from a considerable number of Legendary experts. It seemed that should be the Void Behemoths ridden by those foreign domain experts, along with the experts from the Mycroft World who had come to communicate and guard.
At this moment, many Void Warships of various sizes were orbiting the world he had transformed into, collecting energy fluctuations and data. It seemed that academic organizations from various factions were using him as a core research subject. It was indeed troublesome for them to travel so far to come here—originally, Joshua had planned to attempt his advancement near the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground.
Of course, besides this, Joshua also sensed an extremely powerful energy fluctuation, a familiar existence.
The silver miniature world was now Joshua's body. Unlike the Steel Serpent—the Steel Serpent was essentially similar to a combination of Gaia and the Akashic Records, a collective of the soul reincarnation cycle that operated on a world scale after intelligent life was born. It was the incarnation of the world's myriad spirits, but Joshua was the world itself.
Therefore, even the world barrier was an extension of Joshua's sensory organs and will.
So Joshua effortlessly saw that, centered on himself, a fairly prosperous void base was being built with great fervor. Several enormous Void Warships were transporting supplies, constructing small fortresses at the void nodes around the area. And the Glory Warship, transformed from the Far Sea Holy Mountain, was located at the center of the fortress not far away, sitting in command at the core.
He could hear a large number of researchers around him engaged in intense discussions, analyzing the specific process of the world's birth and the transformation of various energies and substances.
Joshua could perceive many, many things. Although he could already hear before, after becoming a 'world', this range of perception and the number of processing threads had further expanded and increased, even reaching the point where he could simultaneously observe millions of units—and this was just the basics. Joshua believed that by constructing special calculation matrices within his internal world, he could further strengthen this ability.
He could even see, in the distant darkness, the faintly glowing shadows of other World Star Rivers.
And precisely because of this, as if sensing Joshua's undisguised 'gaze', the powerful presence that had been staying by the silver star turned its head and looked towards this world.
"You've awakened, Joshua."
The Pope of the Church of the Seven Gods, Saint Eagle, had a stern expression and spoke very seriously: "Do you know how long you've been asleep?"
"One hundred and ninety-seven days."
Joshua answered succinctly: "Although it was only an instant to me, I should say now—long time no see, Your Holiness the Pope."
"I thought you didn't know how long you slept."
Hearing Joshua give such a clear answer about the duration of his slumber, the old Pope's feigned stern expression immediately disappeared. The old man first smiled slightly, then shook his head, sighing with a hint of regret: "Otherwise, I could have told you that it's now fifty years later, and the Evil God invasion is imminent."
"I really didn't expect that Your Holiness would also tell cold jokes."
Joshua laughed politely, then condensed a projection avatar in the void. Accompanied by silver light particles appearing out of thin air, they coalesced into a slightly blurry but increasingly real humanoid form. The warrior moved his hands and feet, then shook his head: "Without a medium, directly condensing a humanoid form in the void—the power is indeed easily dissipated."
When Joshua usually condensed avatars, he used solid Steel Force matter as a medium. For cross-border descents, he even needed a medium like the Restorative Pillar, which was essentially a part of his body. If he directly condensed an avatar out of thin air, even with the warrior's power, it would almost dissipate after crossing half a continent. This was a dissipation phenomenon that would inevitably occur in a transcendent world with high-energy interference. And in the void, due to the existence of space-time turbulence, this phenomenon would be even more severe.
And precisely because of this, Joshua knew that the white-haired old man in front of him was not an avatar. Pope Eagle's true body had come here, waiting for his awakening.
"It's been over half a year. Whether it's the Nature Mentor or the Great Khan of that Star Shepherd race, we've inquired several times and communicated for a long time."
The old Pope did not engage in excessive pleasantries. He knew that there was no need to care about this when facing Joshua. So he directly reached out, patted the warrior's shoulder, and said softly: "But I still feel that I need to hear the whole story from your own mouth... especially the battle with the Decay Evil God."
This was only natural. Joshua had intended to share the experience and information gained from fighting the Evil God with others. Now that he was being asked, he held nothing back and spoke in full detail.
And the old Pope listened very seriously, occasionally interjecting with a few questions, but only when it was absolutely necessary.
"I see... the Decay Evil God... If one mastered this kind of power, then even attacks from non-Legendary experts could harm the Evil God."
After listening, Eagle was silent for a long time, and Joshua did not continue speaking. After a while, he exhaled and asked with some emotion: "And those souls, are they all... inside your... body now?"
"Yes, they are all within my world."
Joshua looked up, gazing at the pitch-black void, and answered seriously: "Most of those souls are severely damaged, and a large portion died of old age. The souls themselves have no desire to revive. Even if repaired completely, the souls are still asleep."
"I see."
After the old Pope simply replied, he was silent again for a long time.
One could see that the old man's expression was somewhat complex—relief, joy, contemplation, and an indescribable loneliness. But in the end, he still smiled and said: "In any case, congratulations, Count Radcliffe. You have advanced to Legendary High-rank, stepped onto this endless path, and taken another step closer to the realm of the Sage."
"It was a matter of luck, and indeed many coincidences." Although Joshua usually didn't care much about interpersonal relationships, he did have eyes. He could clearly see that the old Pope's mood was somewhat complicated at the moment. The warrior frowned slightly and said in a low voice: "What's wrong, Your Holiness? Judging by your expression, did something happen to the Mycroft World during these two hundred days of my advancement?"
"No, the Mycroft World is perfectly fine. In fact, it's countless times better than I ever imagined."
Eagle smiled bitterly and shook his head. He said softly: "Who would have thought that ten years ago, I was still thinking about how to use my own life to maintain the burning of the flame? Who would have thought that ten years later, the chaotic, war-torn, endlessly conflicting and disputing Mycroft World would develop so rapidly to its current state?"
"Everything is too good, Count Radcliffe. The Orcs were exterminated, the Dragon Calamity was pacified, the cultists were swept away, the Chaos tumors were all cleared out. The Emperor of the Northern Empire, who governs a quarter of humanity, regained his ambitious spirit because of you, at least not messing up the national situation... You reignited the flame of the Mycroft Continent, reopened the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, and retrieved the Unified Grand Database... By the Seven Gods, I rarely pray, because I know that the path I walk is the path of the gods. But Count Radcliffe, have you noticed that because of your existence, this world is getting better and better at an incredible speed?"
"Is that so." Joshua was unimpressed. As a transmigrator, holding a system that was probably given by the Sage or some World Will, wasn't it only natural for him to accomplish such things? If Joshua couldn't even do this, he might as well go home and get fat: "It's only right. Just a small bit of work."
And Eagle looked at Joshua with a strange, somewhat uncomfortable gaze of surprise, staring at him. The old Pope said solemnly: "It's precisely because it's too good, Count. The Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground has brought more cheap resources to the entire world. The Unified Grand Database has saved us a huge amount of research and practice time. The popularization of Mana Factories across the entire world is just a matter of time. Our civilization is developing rapidly, and everyone is living better and better."
"Yes." Joshua listened to the old Pope's tone and felt something was off. He asked in confusion: "But isn't that a good thing?"
"It is indeed a good thing."
Eagle said flatly, then pointed at Joshua: "But what about you?"
Saying this, the old Pope narrowed his eyes, staring into Joshua's eyes: "Everyone is enjoying the changes you've brought... but you have been fighting on the outside all along. I advised you to pay attention to the ground beneath your feet, not to always look up at the sky. You should focus on your own life, not always dedicate yourself to the entire civilization."
"Take this time, for example, the battle with the Decay Evil God." Saying this, the old Pope began to walk in the void, and Joshua stood by the old Pope's side, strolling with him. The two walked around the silver star as the center. Eagle said calmly: "This time, you and Galannod suppressed the Decay Evil God, along with that expert from the Star Shepherd race. That was enough, Joshua. There was no need for you to self-destruct several times, using extremely dangerous methods to experience the Evil God's power. You had reinforcements; we would have arrived soon. We had safe enough methods to kill the Evil God and rescue the souls inside... There was no need for you to take such great risks, as if you were alone."
Eagle stopped walking, turned around, and said sincerely: "Joshua, you are one of the hopes of the Mycroft World, the master of Ying and Lin, the Lord of Moldavia. You are not at a dead end, you are not alone. There are still decades of time. The Evil Gods are not invincible. We have leeway... Do you understand? You can enjoy life, enjoy the privileges and pleasures brought by your identities as a noble, a lord, a Legendary expert. You should even be a bit more extravagant, instead of repeatedly taking risks like this, throwing yourself into life-threatening danger."
Joshua certainly understood what Eagle meant.
The old Pope spoke sincerely, genuinely. He was like an elder who couldn't bear to see a junior with excellent conditions jump into the fire again and again, so he couldn't help but say a few words of advice, telling him to relax a bit, not to be so tense, adventurous, and thrilling that it made bystanders watching from the sidelines clench their fists in worry.
Obviously, he understood the old Pope's mindset very well. But equally obviously, Eagle did not understand Joshua.
"Thank you very much for your concern, Your Holiness."
Reaching out, Joshua originally wanted to pat the old Pope's shoulder as he usually did when comforting others. But considering politeness, he withdrew his hand and rubbed the back of his own neck. The warrior thought for a moment about his words, then said simply and directly: "But in reality, I enjoy this kind of life."
"Enjoy?"
"Enjoy."
Faced with Eagle's puzzled inquiry, Joshua answered bluntly: "Because battle is my conviction, and I have always acted by that principle."
As he spoke, Joshua took a step forward again and began to walk. And this time, Eagle stood by the warrior's side, strolling with him: "Of course, I occasionally doubted my own conviction in the past... because the battle I wanted was not to protect something, nor to invade or destroy something. I don't care about winning or losing, a sense of achievement, or even who is stronger. The battle I want is pure, but also empty, meaningless."
Without paying attention to the old Pope's 'You know that, don't you?!' look, Joshua looked at the dark void and continued walking while talking: "Many times, when I see Your Holiness striving for the entire Mycroft World, see the Nature Mentor working hard for the Elves, see Israel racking his brains for the Empire, see many experts getting stronger and fighting for the past and future, for everything they want to protect—I do occasionally wonder if my own life might be a bit too empty."
"At those times, I was indeed confused."
The warrior readily admitted this. He never cared whether he had flaws in this area, because only by admitting them could he confirm them, and then eliminate them. Ignoring was always the worst choice. Half of Joshua's face was illuminated by the starlight, while the other half was plunged into the shadow of the void: "I have gained titles like savior, protector, and even new god in various other worlds... but I never intended to do so from the beginning. I just happened to do some good deeds. Those titles have nothing to do with my true heart."
Saying this, Joshua laughed softly: "Fighting just for the sake of fighting—that kind of conviction sounds like madness, doesn't it? It's almost like the Evil Gods we saw in the past. No one knows what their purpose is, why they came, or why they destroy."
The Evil God weapon theory and the existence of a behind-the-scenes manipulator were all Joshua's speculations. Everything was still shrouded in mystery.
And the warrior continued: "Persisting in this conviction might very well push me into darkness. Could my future become another kind of Evil God? Like the Plague and the Black Mist Mother. Ever since the journey to the Siberia World, I have been thinking about this question."
"And now?"
The old Pope had been quietly listening to Joshua's narration. Hearing this, Eagle asked softly: "Have you now found the answer to this question?"
Have you found your order?
"I have awakened, Your Holiness."
The warrior replied with a double meaning. He lowered his head slightly, looking down at the equally endless void and stars below. Joshua said calmly: "Now, I know what the sound stirring in my heart truly is."
"I am still alive, and I will fight. This is my order."
It's my turn.
Lifting his head again, Joshua suddenly changed the subject. He laughed softly: "Your Holiness the Pope, do you know? The birth of life has no meaning."
"Inorganic matter transforms into organic matter. Organic macromolecules accumulate, becoming the primordial soup of life. And the embryonic form of life is born in this soup... There is no meaning behind this. No god, no creator, no selection, no meaning at all. It's just a coincidence."
"Viruses, cells, bacteria, single-celled organisms, multicellular organisms—their birth is simply because they exist, so they exist."
"And existence itself is a battle with this world."
Saying this, Joshua stopped walking.
They had already circled the silver star once. The two Legendary experts had circled this small world with a diameter of one light-second.
Everything had returned to its original position.
And the warrior, gazing at his own body, this silver world, his expression showed no emotion, but it was not cold. Instead, there was an unnamed passion gathering.
"Breathing, moving, eating, reproducing... What is the purpose of these desires? Actually, there is no 'why'. Just like the appearance of life, all of this—everything that already exists."
"Including the world, its birth, its existence, and even its end."
"None of it needs a reason."
I have found my order.
Joshua closed his eyes, recalling everything he had experienced. The picture of his life flashed through his thought center, already faster than any supercomputer. He had already reviewed his entire life.
There was no need to find a grand banner for his actions, nor to put a lofty title on his thoughts.
If he wanted to fight, he fought. If he wanted to destroy, he destroyed.
"Don't worry about my feelings, Your Holiness. All of this is my choice, and it is what I delight in."
Joshua opened his eyes. He turned around, looking towards the edge of the World Star River. The warrior raised his hand, pointing towards the edge of the star river's edge—the vast, seemingly endless darkness—as if issuing a challenge, sending a declaration of war to the infinite unknown.
"Because I will do what I want to do."
As he spoke, Joshua's finger slid, sweeping across all the void and star rivers before him. The silver Steel Force trajectory even lit up the starry sky. He laughed boldly, even making the originally serious old Pope beside him unable to help but shake his head helplessly and laugh along.
"Because this is my life."
## A Bit Stuck on Writing
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What exactly is death?
The body losing vitality, the heart stopping beating, the brain ceasing to function, the soul completely annihilated... These are all signs of death's arrival. If just one appears, in ninety percent of cases, it can declare the countdown to death.
But are these absolute?
Not necessarily. Liches have no vitality in their bodies. Treants don't have hearts at all. A Headless Knight's head is just a decoration; when happy, they might even put a pumpkin on it. And some beings don't even need a soul to live comfortably and even be extremely powerful.
However, in this cruel and dark multiverse, death is something no existence can avoid. Even Transcendent Beings need to cross one high threshold after another to temporarily escape its pursuit.
"Priest, I must tell you something."
In the underground sterile laboratory of Winterfell Academy's headquarters, a man with a deep voice calmly said to his disciple, who was kneeling before him: "The 'Watcher' Elf tribe has all been eroded by Chaos, and their souls were attacked by the Plague Evil God. The situation is now very bad. They are currently receiving treatment in the Elven homeland in the Far South, and their awakening time is completely unpredictable."
"But fortunately, before the Mother Tree was destroyed, it used its last power to protect their souls and bodies. Although they were severely injured, their lives are not in danger. At least being alive is guaranteed."
Saying this, the man noticed that his disciple's body trembled.
"But... Su Er did not have a link with the Mother Tree."
"In that case, she should be dead."
Hearing this, the gray-haired young man immediately clenched his teeth. The man narrowed his eyes, sizing up his disciple, then said in a low voice: "Priest, why are you so sad?"
He laughed lightly: "You are a Transcendent Being. Do you really think that death is the end?"
"Death is just the beginning."
Starfall Era 840, March 7th, 7:00 AM, Second Floor of the Lord's Mansion in the Inner City of Moldavia.
Humans like to use the word 'unique' to describe precious and rare things, and 'commonplace' to describe the commonness and abundance of a thing.
In the Mycroft World, ordinary humans without transcendent power are common, abundant. Out of ten people, about eight or nine are ordinary people without any transcendent power. And the remaining one might not even be a proper professional; they might just know a couple of magic tricks or Battle Qi tricks.
In contrast, Transcendent Beings are undoubtedly rare. In this high-magic world of Mycroft, perhaps everyone knows of the existence of magic, but those who can truly cross the barrier of Black Iron Mid-rank and become a proper professional class like Black Iron High-rank are absolutely rare, just like how everyone knows how to lose weight, but only a few can successfully do so.
However, although there is indeed a clear distinction between 'ordinary humans' and 'Transcendent Beings'.
In this world, there is no such thing as a 'predestined ordinary person'.
The Grand Steward of the Moldavia Territory Lord's Mansion, the Super Administrator of the Winterfell Academy Magic Net, the Honorary Vice President of the Northern Territory Lord's Mansion Official Chamber of Commerce, perhaps once a weapon but now fully a butler—Lin·Akelor sat at his desk in his room, with a stern expression browsing the forums in his Psychic Terminal, then launched the second large-scale net-cleaning campaign of the year.
"These people live on the internet, don't they? How do they have so much energy every day!"
The black-haired boy ruthlessly deleted all the junk posts, advertisement posts, and water posts in the forum, and successively imposed bans of varying lengths on many members who posted irregularly, causing the forum members to be on high alert, trembling in fear.
"A good deed a day."
After doing these things, feeling refreshed, Lin clapped his hands and logged out of the Magic Net.
As a seventh-generation Divine Mechanism created by the Empire's Artificial Fairy Project, Lin and his sister both had Fairy-like Psionic Energy bodies. This allowed them to log into the Magic Net without needing to use a gem-like Psychic Terminal like ordinary humans—in fact, their very existence was a giant Psychic Terminal. With just a thought, they could easily connect to the Magic Net in any environment.
And precisely because of this, he, along with Unit 3 and Ying, became one of the super administrators managing the Magic Net, providing a quiet and clean internet environment for the increasing number of Psychic Terminal users—that was the official statement, take it as you will. In reality, the black-haired boy just had a bit of OCD; he couldn't stand any irregular posting formats.
Standing up from the desk, Lin slightly organized the notes and books he had been reading last night. He put aside the unfinished books like 'On Empire', 'City of Faith', 'Advanced Magic Runes·Aether Chapter', neatly arranged his notes, then placed the finished books like 'How to Please Your Leader·The Path to Promotion', 'Thirty-Three Key Points for Raising a Dragon', 'Social Movements' into the bookshelf, arranging them neatly.
One could see two pictures on the side of the bookshelf. One was Lin's schedule for this month, densely packed with key points and red circles. The other was a magical photo, depicting a black-haired man taking a black-haired boy for a ride on a black dragon in a blizzard.
After finishing organizing, the meticulous Lin turned off the desk lamp, straightened his collar, and prepared to go out for a new day's work.
A while ago, the master awakened from his slumber and really caused quite a stir when he returned to the territory. Because the Lord was safe and sound and had successfully advanced, many old friends from all over the world came to celebrate. His Holiness the Pope came in person with his adopted son Loranda. Brandon, who had been honing his swordsmanship in the Abyss for some time, also visited with his family. Not to mention those Legendary experts—for a whole month, the people of the Northern lands were under the pressure of the revived Legendary expert's might. The magical beasts in the area that hadn't had time to flee were basically directly tamed. When they saw people, they not only dared not bite, but would even lie down and wag their tails, putting on a pitiful look.
Those days were indeed quite busy. Lin recalled that month and couldn't help but purse his lips and shake his head. If it weren't for the master giving them the cultivation materials from the Fairyland, allowing him and his sister to learn by analogy and further improve their strength, they might have really been dizzy with busyness.
But now it's much better. The master's exchanges with the various Legendary experts have ended. The fervor of the advancement has gradually begun to cool down. Everything is returning to its normal track.
And just as the black-haired boy was walking out of his room, he passed by a statue.
The statue's appearance was exactly the same as the boy himself. One could even say that an ordinary person would be completely unable to distinguish the difference between the two when both were still. Lin stopped, looked up and down at this statue, and couldn't help but show a hint of a smile.
This statue was made by the master when he was practicing creation before, for everyone in the Lord's Mansion. It was sculpted on an atomic scale, perfectly restoring everyone's appearance and expression. The level of detail was incredibly inconceivable. When he first saw it, Lin himself had the illusion of looking at himself.
The statue of Lin was wearing a butler's uniform, without any special features. It was just sitting ordinarily on a chair, holding a book, quietly reading. Its expression seemed to be thinking, as if it had some realization.
Very detailed, but nothing very special or worth remembering. Unlike his sister and Unit 3, who were beautiful and striking, or like Black's dragon form, which was majestic. At first glance, this statue was just an ordinary, unremarkable boy reading a book.
This was only natural.
Lin knew that he was not a person with any special characteristics.
He would only work meticulously, obey orders, commands, and complete the tasks entrusted by the master. He wouldn't have any other superfluous thoughts, nor would he have any complaints.
He did what needed to be done meticulously, kept instructions in mind, carefully took care of his sister, who was a bit scatterbrained because she was abandoned at the beginning of forging, raised a certain black dragon when the master was away, took her and Xiao Guang for walks, and if necessary, sometimes assisted Unit 3 with some technical problems, and used his exquisite Fairy Card skills to confirm his leadership position in the family... Not conspicuous, hidden behind the scenes, seemingly just an ordinary person.
But he was not ordinary. He was not a plain, commonplace butler character.
The black-haired boy knew and firmly believed this.
He was the perfect Divine Mechanism, the best weapon, attendant, and butler.
This was his unique identity.
Thinking this, he opened the door, walked through the corridor, exited the Lord's Mansion, and headed towards the nearby Chamber of Commerce headquarters.
Along the way, one could still faintly see the traces left by the celebration not long ago. The street broadcasts and LCD screens were playing melodious morning music. One could faintly hear the sounds of the commercial district opening for business not far away. In the surrounding residential houses, one could see many residents opening their doors, sweeping away the snow and the icicles under the eaves. One could see that the races of the residents were diverse, ranging from Dwarves to Elves, from Halflings to Gnomes, and one could even see a human auntie preparing to go to the commercial district to buy ingredients greeting a neighbor who was a Fishman, making sounds that who knows who could understand.
A residential house opened its door. A man with platinum-white hair walked out with a snow shovel, preparing to clear the snow outside. He inadvertently looked up and saw the black-haired boy who had already walked past this street.
"Oh, isn't that Butler Lin?"
The man was slightly startled, then shook his head and sighed with emotion: "Going out to work so early in the morning, he's really conscientious and responsible."
"Brother, what are you doing?"
From inside the house came a somewhat lazy female voice: "Hurry up and finish shoveling the snow, then come eat breakfast. We still have to report to the Human Resources Department of the Royal Mage Association today."
"Yes, Amira, I know." Smiling in response to his sister's words, Ivan·Marklov rolled up his sleeves and began to bend over to shovel the snow.
In fact, with his strength as a Gold-rank and the top graduate of Winterfell Academy, he could control magic with just a thought and clear all the snow from his house and even the entire block. But occasional physical labor wasn't bad. Besides, there were regulations in the city center that prohibited the use of any power equivalent to or exceeding Silver Low-rank. Violators would be thrown into the Mana Factory to serve as a human mana engine for a period of time.
Like to recklessly use transcendent power? Then use it to your heart's content and contribute to the public.
Although it sounded like it was just a rule to ensure the safety of ordinary residents, Ivan, who had gradually begun to enter the Empire's management level, knew that things were not that simple.
Because the number of Transcendent Beings was gradually increasing.
More than ten years ago, before the Great Magic Tide, the density of free energy in the entire world was not high. And the inheritance of Transcendent Beings was generally spread through small academies and master-disciple transmission models. So the number of Transcendent Beings was very scarce. Even counting the most widely spread military training methods and a couple of simple witchcraft techniques from folk spellcasters, the number of Transcendent Beings was still very small.
But now, the Great Magic Tide had arrived. Recently, large-scale transcendent academies had been opening all over the world. The number of Transcendent Beings was now increasing at an obvious rate.
From Ivan's own perspective, things were even more obvious. Since he and his sister Amira graduated from Winterfell Academy, moved out from their grandfather Edward's place, and bought a house in the city center, every day he could hear news from the surrounding residents about their children or relatives entering Winterfell. There were even parents who signed up for the 'Advanced Practice Training Class' that the Lord's Mansion specifically opened for adults, learning a couple of magic or Battle Qi techniques.
In just half a year, the original one percent, ten percent Transcendent Being count had rapidly expanded, even reaching the point where three or four out of ten people were Transcendent Beings.
Although the vast majority of newly promoted professionals were only the most superficial, lowest-level Transcendent Beings, even so, they could use Mana machinery, activate rune arrays, and exert not-inconsiderable power through magical artifacts... And precisely because of this, as the number of Transcendent Beings increased, special decrees for Transcendent Beings also multiplied.
After shoveling the snow, Ivan returned to the house, put the snow shovel behind the door, and walked towards the kitchen to prepare for breakfast. When he sat down next to a girl who also had platinum-white hair, Ivan asked casually: "How's our dragon doing?"
"Still sleeping. It'll probably take a few days to wake up."
Amira spread jam on Ivan's bread and answered somewhat absentmindedly: "By the way, brother, do you think we can really go to the Abyss?"
"Why not?"
Ivan poured a glass of milk for Amira. Hearing this, he shook his head in slight confusion: "Do you still remember what the teacher said to us disciples a few days ago?"
"The Mycroft World has reached a critical moment. In the past, we were imprisoned in a dark, ancient cage. But now, we must break free from this rusty, decayed shackles and leave this cage... Obviously, the teacher and the others' adventure this time has made some major discovery. Resources are shifting towards the 'new world' the teacher mentioned."
Saying this, Ivan took a bite of the jam-covered bread and said somewhat indistinctly: "I know what you're thinking. Since resources are starting to favor the new world, why should we go to the Abyss? It's simple, my sister. To deal with external threats, we must first secure the interior... The Mycroft World is adjacent to the Abyss. So before advancing towards the new world, we must first eliminate the threats nearby."
Saying this, he swallowed the food in his mouth, looked at his sister, and said with a smile: "The people in the External Exploration Department like adventure. What we, who don't like to move around, need to do is to make our hometown more stable while they are adventuring. Besides, even without this reason, wouldn't we still find an opportunity to go to the Abyss?"
This was only natural. The brother and sister, who had sworn to hunt the Five-Colored Dragons for life, exchanged a smile, then lowered their heads and quietly ate breakfast.
Wherever the Five-Colored Dragons were, they would be there.
Of course they would go to the Abyss.
"Of course we're going to the Abyss!"
The Dragon Girl Lisa loudly announced her newly confirmed plan in her own home: "It's time to send Mr. Syndicate back to his hometown for a visit!"
Recently, the Dragon Girl's speech had become increasingly direct and straightforward, without any euphemism. Who knows who she learned that from.
"Zzzz."
On the table in the hall, a silver alarm clock rang twice, making a sound of support. Chu Hao's avatar dutifully turned the second hand and continued: "Zzzzzz?"
On the other side, a Dragonman sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper, who looked somewhat similar to Lisa but was slightly taller and more masculine, blinked and subconsciously complained: "What do you mean by 'send me back to my hometown'?"
"Oh, Mr. Syndicate, you don't want to go back?"
The Dragon Girl who announced this news originally thought the Flame Demon would be very happy, but unexpectedly, he had this attitude. She immediately looked a bit disappointed and lowered her head, her expression unclear.
"No, Lisa, look. I'm not a Flame Demon anymore!" Seeing Lisa's somewhat sad look, Syndicate immediately became nervous. He quickly put down the newspaper, stood up, walked over to Lisa's side, took her hand, and wanted to explain: "After my life form changed, I'm no longer a Demon. Besides, the Abyss... Hey, you're not crying?!"
"Of course not." Seizing the opportunity to grab Syndicate's hand, Lisa looked up, her face radiant, without any hint of disappointment. She shrugged, then stood on tiptoe and whispered softly in the Flame Demon's ear: "I just want to go see the place where you used to live... What, you're unwilling?"
"I... can't... really say..."
Syndicate really wanted to say 'unwilling'. After all, the Abyss was indeed not a good place. And his life in the Abyss was honestly just ordinary fighting, killing, eating, and drinking. There was nothing interesting about it. Life in the Mycroft World was so comfortable and pleasant, people spoke nicely, and he really liked it here. He didn't want to go back at all.
But in the end, he compromised: "Alright, if Lisa really wants to go... then let's go. My experience there might still be somewhat useful."
"Mr. Syndicate is the best!"
At the same time, next door to Lisa and the others.
In the same small house in the Southern City residential area, the atmosphere was completely opposite to the joyful one next door.
The winter wind beat against the windows. Frost gradually spread on the inside of the glass. By the fireplace, on the sofa in the hall, a gray-haired little girl bit her lower lip, staring blankly at two pots of flowers of different forms in front of her.
One pot of flowers was like a dandelion, with a fluffy flower body, but it was golden yellow, and the fluff was hard to detach. This plant, called 'Dawn Dandelion', was a special fire-type magical herb. Its roots had a good effect on nourishing the body and strengthening the constitution. But most importantly, it felt good to the touch, soft and warm, very suitable for playing with in winter.
The other pot of flowers was much more magical. It had seven petals like translucent geometric ice crystals. Each petal had a different magical light orbiting around it. The light rotated, and the six elements and Aether floating in the atmosphere gradually gathered around it, making the mana concentration in the room increasingly dense.
Brandy looked at these two pots of flowers that Priest had sent, feeling somewhat worried in her heart.
"Brother hasn't smiled in a long time..."
Ever since Priest returned from the distant star river, Brandy had rarely seen her brother genuinely smile.
The two pots of flowers—the Dawn Dandelion was originally a gift that her brother planned to give her. He hid it in the attic on the roof, thinking she hadn't noticed. But since he didn't come back for so long, she had to water it herself... Brandy originally thought she would be angry at her brother for breaking his promise. But in the end, when she saw Priest's tired appearance, Brandy found that she couldn't say any words of reproach. She could only hug her only relative's waist and thank the Seven Gods for bringing him home safely.
The other pot of flowers was called 'Seven-Colored Seven-Colored'. According to her brother, it was actually a gift from the Nature Mentor, a Legendary expert of the Elf clan. It was a rare high-grade magical herb. Its fragrance could effectively increase the speed at which a Druid could perceive the power of nature.
But even after receiving such a precious gift, and even receiving a public commendation from the Lord, her brother still didn't smile, looking worried.
"You look very sad."
Brandy asked directly at that time: "Brother, why?"
"Because your brother is too weak."
Priest answered very directly. He sighed and said: "All anger and sadness stem from one's own powerlessness, Brandy. You must train well, so you don't end up like your brother in the future, making such an ugly display."
Brother has already done very well. The gray-haired girl thought so. But it's definitely not enough. At least, brother thinks it's not enough.
Being a bit greedy is not a bad thing. Having desires gives you motivation. Just like herself—if the school didn't give out little red flowers and reward candy, who would work so hard to read books?
But sometimes, when you encounter a problem you can't solve, you can ask the teacher.
Even elementary school students know how to do that!
"If there's a problem that brother can't solve, then why not ask the Lord?"
This was what little Brandy said to Priest not long ago: "After all, the Lord is your teacher... The Lord is so powerful. Problems that brother can't solve, the Lord can definitely solve. At least, he can tell you the way to solve them."
Then, her brother really went to see the Lord.
Until now, he still hasn't come back.
"Sigh, brother is so sad every day, it's making me lose my appetite."
Thinking of this, Brandy stroked the Dawn Dandelion, and her mood felt a bit better: "If this time it's still not resolved... then I'll lend him the dandelion to stroke for a while."
But just as Brandy was somewhat reluctantly thinking about how many days it would be better to lend the dandelion to Priest, she suddenly heard familiar footsteps outside the door, along with the sound of her brother talking to someone. And! Although the tone sounded very calm, Brandy could tell that her brother was no longer radiating negative energy like before!
"...This is my home... Your father and the others still have their bodies, and they are currently being treated in the Far South. Next time there's an opportunity, I'll take you to see them..."
"Priest! The buildings here are so tall! So amazing! So beautiful! You lived in a place like this?"
She could also hear the voice of an unfamiliar girl.
"Brandy, I'm home!"
Click. The sound of the door opening came.
A gray-haired young man, holding a curious and enthusiastic-looking Elf with green hair and golden eyes, walked into the house.
However, one could vaguely see that this Elf's body had some flaws. There was a huge, ethereal wound on her back, and her body was somewhat illusory. In the raging wind outside, she even looked a bit hazy. It was only when she entered the house that she became a bit more vivid.
Undoubtedly, this was an undead, an undead with self-will.
And this undead saw a gray-haired little girl running over, looking at her with curiosity. She immediately showed a big smile, then crouched down and greeted very seriously: "Hello, you must be Priest's sister, Brandy, right? My name is Su Er!"
"Don't be afraid. Although I'm dead, I won't harm anyone."
This is a very cruel world.
War, destruction, natural disasters, Chaos... Death follows like a shadow, like a clinging bone tumor.
This is also a very gentle world.
Because as long as one is strong enough.
Even death can be overcome.
ps:0l