Chapter 5: The Limit of Life
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New World - Nomadic Type - Void Lifeform - Star Shepherd
Star Shepherd (Scientific Name: Abnormal State Super-Magic Fungal Aggregate)
Discovered on May 3, Year 839 of the Falling Stars Era, at the edge of the native World Star River. This race lives in symbiosis with crab-shaped Void Behemoths and cannot adapt to dry, low-magic environments. Its social structure resembles a centralized system, with the vast majority of Star Shepherds loyal to twenty-seven 'Kings of the Void Sky' who can control the Void Behemoths.
Each King of the Void Sky can rule all Star Shepherds on a single Void Behemoth, but just as all Star Shepherds are loyal to the King of the Void Sky, all Kings of the Void Sky are loyal to the strongest of the race, an existence known as the 'Great Khan'.
The social development and technological level of this race are extremely high. They possess a complete written language, culture, and customs, as well as a complete transcendent power inheritance reaching the Soul's Ultimate Essence. However, because the Star Shepherds themselves are an extremely spirit-oriented race that neglects physical strength, they do not have an inheritance for the Force's Ultimate Essence.
The strongest of this race, the Great Khan, is at the Legendary High-rank level. It can control twenty-seven Legendary-rank Void Behemoths. However, aside from these, the power level of the Kings of the Void Sky is only at the Soul's Ultimate Essence High-rank or Peak. Except for the Great Khan, they have not found a path to break through to Legendary purely through the soul body.
Notes:
In terms of transcendent power development alone, the Star Shepherds are far inferior to us (Mycroft). However, their scale is so vast that it exceeds our understanding. Any single Void Sky (the world on the back of a Void Behemoth) has a population of Star Shepherd citizens comparable to a large kingdom. According to rough statistics, the total population of the Star Shepherds is a staggering 570 million, a number comparable to the total population of the Mycroft World.
In terms of high-end military force, we have an overwhelming advantage. We only need to block the attack of the strongest, the Great Khan, and 3 to 5 Legendary experts can hold back the charge of the Void Behemoth cluster. These modified Void Behemoths have much harder shells and faster movement speeds than their kin, but at the same time, they have lost various powerful attack methods. They pose almost no threat to some Legendary experts...
"It seems the situation is more serious than we imagined."
The scorching sun hung high in the sky.
Above the Sibalt Plateau, within the core hub of the massive monitoring system, on the throne atop the clouds at an altitude of ten thousand meters, the Imperial Emperor Israel gazed at the light screen condensed by the Psychic Terminal in his hand and murmured softly, "If it weren't for high-end military force, relying solely on the numbers and war methods of these Star Shepherds, we would be crushed like a biscuit under a roller."
As he spoke, he put down the relatively optimistic report in his hand, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Teacher, do you think the words of these Star Shepherds can be trusted?"
"We can only choose to trust them."
To the left of the throne, Nostradamus walked out slowly. He stared out the window at the ever-changing flowing clouds beneath the cloud throne and the dazzlingly bright sunlight, and replied calmly, "Even if the Star Shepherds are exaggerating or deliberately hiding threats, before we actually go to the new world they speak of, we can only believe these big mushrooms."
Hearing his teacher's words, the Imperial Emperor narrowed his eyes. He opened the light screen on his Psychic Terminal again and shook his head, "If everything these big mushrooms say is true..."
"Then their strength is hardly impressive."
The current time was March 23, Year 840 of the Falling Stars Era.
More than two weeks had passed since Joshua's communication with the Great Khan of the Star Shepherds.
Joshua naturally relayed all the information from his exchange with the Great Khan to the other Legendary experts. Soon, the entire Star Shepherd race was guided to a dark star field that they considered 'barely acceptable' as their settlement, granted the right to live under the monitoring of the Mycroft World's experts.
In truth, given the strength of Joshua and the other Legendary experts present, directly killing the Great Khan, slaying the twenty-seven Void Behemoths, and erasing the 570 million Star Shepherds and their Void Sky worlds was not a difficult task. Their power was enough to extinguish stars. In the eyes of these Super Lifeforms, 570 million people were just a large number; actually fighting them wouldn't be much more troublesome than killing five hundred.
But in the end, after lengthy negotiations and consideration for the future, everyone decided to spare the Star Shepherds. This was certainly not out of misplaced compassion, but simply because their technology, knowledge, and power were still useful, even greatly useful, to the Mycroft World.
For one thing, at least in terms of information about the external Star River, the intelligence provided by the Star Shepherds was unique.
"Hundreds of void civilizations, each with a population in the billions, and even tens of billions are not uncommon."
Israel rubbed his right temple in frustration and said in a low voice, "The number of fleet crew members alone in these civilizations might not be less than our entire empire... Their artillery fire could scour the surface of our world clean in an instant. Ha, isn't that how these Star Shepherds ended up? They intervened in a war between a high-level civilization and an Evil God, and their entire civilization was destroyed by stray shots."
"They developed for tens of thousands of years, while we only have twelve hundred years... Rather, it would be abnormal if there weren't such a gap."
Facing Israel's complaint, Nostradamus, though seemingly not entirely agreeing with Israel's view, still answered from the side, "Although the scale of those external Star River civilizations is ten, a hundred, or even a thousand times greater than ours, their high-end military force has not exceeded our imagination, and is even inferior to ours. Israel, though it sounds ridiculous, I must say: don't be intimidated by the population numbers."
"According to Joshua's classification, our Mycroft Civilization is a 'Transcendent Being Civilization.' Ordinary people are the foundation of the civilization, but they do not affect the high-end combat power."
Both Nostradamus and Israel had long heard Joshua's speculation about 'time dilation,' and combined with the different recorded times of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground and the Aklafa Hub, this speculation had been basically confirmed. So they clearly knew that the Mycroft Civilization lagged behind external civilizations by thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
And what Nostradamus said was indeed correct.
The fundamental inheritance from the Era of Radiance ensured that the Mycroft Civilization of the Era of Falling Stars never fell behind in terms of high-end experts, and was even constantly developing. Although ordinary people might only live a medieval lifestyle, even a Gold-rank mage could use technologies like ultra-long-distance point-to-point teleportation, which ordinary void civilizations could not develop.
The difference brought by individual strength was so vast that the combat power of the two sides could never be compared with numbers.
If a Legendary expert, without interference or threat from other experts of the same level, could kill all life on the entire planet, it was only a matter of time. For a slower one like Sword Saint Lamotte, who needed to slash one by one, it might take a dozen years. But for indiscriminate destruction-level Legendary experts like Joshua, Eagle, and Faina, blowing up the entire world might not even take a day.
Especially Joshua and Faina. Joshua could eat a smaller world as easily as eating a biscuit, and Faina's battle with the Ether Dragon in the Seventh Abyss had filled that frozen world with warmth to this day, with lava flowing everywhere.
At this level, a single individual was equivalent to the entire void fleet of an external civilization. So even if the total population of the civilization was only a fraction of the other side's, Nostradamus felt there was no need to be too afraid.
"Teacher, I am not afraid of external civilizations. Even the coming invasion of the Evil Gods does not frighten me in the slightest, let alone other worlds and races."
In response to Nostradamus's confident answer, Israel sighed, but then laughed. The Emperor's expression seemed somewhat emotional. He raised his head, looked at the empty high sky, and said in a low voice, "I am just sighing with emotion. Even with our Mycroft World's population of several hundred million, and less than a tenth of that being Transcendent Beings, we can still produce so many Legendary experts... What if we also had several billion, or even tens of billions of people? What if we could popularize the cultivation of transcendent power just as other civilizations popularize knowledge and culture?"
"Then, perhaps we could also be like the Era of Radiance, with over a hundred Legendary experts, dozens of true gods, countless Ultimate-rank and Gold-rank experts, and ordinary citizens who are basically at least Silver-rank, right? At that time, a race like the Star Shepherds could probably be easily suppressed by just a single local army."
Saying this, Israel squeezed the information terminal in his hand and said somewhat playfully, "Unfortunately, we only have a few decades... If we, if the Mycroft Civilization, had five hundred years, restoring the glory of the Era of Radiance would be as easy as turning over a hand."
"Five hundred years? You're thinking too beautifully." Nostradamus couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, "Don't be too greedy. One hundred and fifty years would be good."
"But one hundred and fifty years is also quite greedy." The Emperor laughed as well. Immediately, the entire high-altitude throne room was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
After the laughter subsided, Israel's expression turned serious. He closed his eyes and continued to immerse himself in the information monitored by the Heavenly Net System across the entire nation.
"Within the empire, there is basically no crime anymore... All the madmen and fools who dared to take risks and commit crimes have either died or been locked up. The land is harmonious."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "The establishment of professional schools is also gradually on track. Infrastructure construction has never stopped. The empire is now more stable and prosperous than ever before... It's really hard to imagine that just a few years ago, I was thinking about how to die with some dignity."
"Teacher Nostradamus, do you feel that I have reached the limit of my life?"
Upon hearing this, Nostradamus turned his head, his expression solemn.
"Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?"