Chapter 3: Divine Nature Erosion
"Not a bad idea!"
Regarding Joshua's concept, Yizhe widened his eyes, and the Dwarf God nodded in praise.
In His view, this special world structure designed by Joshua could maximize the acceleration of the conversion and accumulation of transcendent power, and could even serve as a model for various demiplanes. The intelligent life within could simply be replaced by ordinary magical beasts, albeit with reduced efficiency. The greatest use of this design was to speed up the advancement process from demiplane to full world.
Although as a deity, He did not need such technology, Yizhe would recognize and support any progress, whether in technology or personal strength.
As for the fate of Joshua's main body, it was now decided. According to the calculations of the God of Wisdom and Choice, the initial formation of the Genesis Maelstrom, even at the fastest speed, would take roughly over a year, with subsequent reinforcement and recovery taking even longer. In other words, Joshua had about a year of safe time to peacefully absorb power within the Genesis Maelstrom, after which the resistance against space-time pressure would make it counterproductive.
But a year was already sufficient. The Steel Particles and authority the warrior absorbed here each day surpassed what he could gain by wandering the void for a year.
Just as Yizhe was about to exchange a few more words with Joshua before leaving, violet and white divine light flickered. The God of Love and Decay and the God of Life, for some reason, simultaneously descended into the warrior's world interior.
"Radcliffe..."
Appearing in the form of an elven lady, Love and Decay's first action upon descending was to seriously scrutinize Joshua from head to toe. Her brow furrowed slightly, as if she had noticed something, but after hesitating for a moment, she shook her head: "Never mind... I just wanted to say, if you need any help, feel free to tell us."
With that, she transformed back into divine light and hurriedly departed. The God of Life, who had accompanied her, also examined Joshua for a moment, then looked toward the nine sky-island worlds. After nodding slightly, she too left rapidly, for reasons unknown.
Soon, as Yizhe also departed, the divine light of the six gods circled the silver world once before flying away from the Extreme Dark Abyss. Unlike Joshua, unable to absorb Steel Force, they had already felt discomfort within the Genesis Maelstrom and had to constantly expend divine power to avoid being repelled.
"..."
Confirming that all six gods had completely left, Joshua maintained his original posture. The humanoid hub remained stationary at the center of the star, unmoving for a long time.
At this moment, the warrior seemed frozen in time. Not only was his entire body motionless, but even the silver sun at the world's center temporarily ceased its churning and glowing. The energy cycle was interrupted, plunging the entire world into utter darkness. The force controlling the rotation and alternation of the nine sky-islands also vanished, and everything gradually fell into stagnation and silence.
"...Sigh."
After standing rigidly in place for a long time, a faint, ethereal sigh could be heard from the darkness.
And two points of crimson light appeared at the center of the darkness at that moment.
As the red light rose, the silver sun regained its radiance. The interrupted cycle of the world slowly restarted, like a factory that had suddenly lost power, beginning to operate once more.
Joshua, who had finally regained some mobility, looked down at his hands. He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if trying to suppress the crimson divine light surging from the depths of his pupils.
"Their timing couldn't be worse."
After a long pause, Joshua raised a slightly trembling hand to his forehead. The warrior muttered to himself, his voice carrying a hint of self-mockery: "Using the stiffest tone and conversation style to minimize communication time... but even so, it was still too long. I almost gave myself away."
Saying this, the warrior's humanoid incarnation slowly lowered his hand. Yet such a simple action caused the incarnation to suddenly vanish for a moment, like a TV signal with poor reception—though it reappeared immediately, it was clear that in certain subtle parts, this reconstituted incarnation could no longer maintain control. Structural flaws had appeared, like a 3D model with clipping errors.
"I... was still too arrogant..."
As if trying to wake himself up, Joshua shook his head vigorously. But such actions did not make him clearer-headed. In his daze, he could only force a bitter smile: "The resentment and despair carried by the Death Evil God... I bore them alone... the burden was too heavy."
Not long ago, in the final battle against the Death Evil God, Joshua had used the runes of his own world to create a weapon resembling a stream of light from electromagnetic waves.
This weapon, composed of pure light, had no physical destructive power. However, because it carried special Steel Force, it could extract and transmit information at incredible speed. In other words, it was like a special kind of optical cable—more of a high-level linking transmitter than a weapon.
This light weapon was useless against superhumans like Fatlervi who wielded world authority, or against out-of-control magical mesoscopic intelligences like the Black Mist. But when used against an Evil God, it yielded miraculous results—it could dismantle the Evil God's most solid chaos barrier and directly shatter the Evil God's core, composed of memories and souls. It could practically be called a specialized divine artifact against Evil Gods.
And if used against a condensed Evil God embryo, the nascent form of the Death Evil God, this weapon was even more terrifying. Its mere existence could extract endless memories from chaos, reducing condensed chaotic stars and masses into insignificant chaotic dust, turning a thousand and ten thousand equally into ten thousand ones.
Of course, such a specialized anti-Evil God weapon had one flaw.
The mental toll on the user.
Every time Joshua shattered a chaos clot with his light weapon, the memories of a destroyed world would be recorded into the obelisks within his world through the relay station of 'Joshua himself.'
Each strike, each attack, placed immense strain on Joshua's mind. But since the warrior had no soul, he didn't suffer soul injuries—all corresponding damage was borne by the collective calculation matrix within his world. Just to record the information of over a thousand civilizations, the memory matrix had been reborn and destroyed hundreds of times, equivalent to an ordinary expert's soul shattering hundreds of times.
Killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred—or even two thousand—of one's own. This fighting method could only be used by Joshua. Anyone else, no matter who, would suffer severe soul damage from a single use.
And the final eruption of the light giant axe, which cleaved through the entire Extreme Dark Abyss, meant that an endless torrent of sorrowful memories simultaneously flooded the warrior's mind, attempting to assimilate him into a new Evil God.
Even Joshua could not possibly withstand such a mental flood. So he could only use one method to strengthen his spirit and resist this soul attack—which even a soulless being found difficult to handle and could alter physical reality.
That was divine nature.
By awakening and strengthening the divine nature he had already mastered, Joshua barely survived the most dangerous wave of mental surge, forcibly shattering the final counterattack of the Death Evil God embryo. But this did not mean the danger had passed—on the contrary, the dangerous moment had just begun.
Compared to the chaos power that could be gradually worn down with time and help, the overly strengthened divine nature was the root cause of errors in Joshua's thinking. And due to the nature of divine nature, Joshua could find no solution except to use his own mental power to wear it down and suppress it. This situation had led to Joshua's current terrible state.
The warrior now was like those heroic souls he had just revived—his entire mind was in a daze. He only functioned somewhat normally when shaping the world or resurrecting heroic souls. The appearance of the six gods had briefly awakened him, making him aware of his current predicament.
"At this rate... whether I'm swallowed by the remaining destructive memories of the Death Evil God or crushed by divine nature until my self-will is gone, I will no longer be myself..."
Thinking this, Joshua immediately recalled the actions of Love and Decay and the God of Life—their sudden arrival and departure. Their expressions, clearly indicating they had noticed something, seemed to confirm they had indeed detected some clue. This was not surprising; as deities, they were always sensitive to such matters.
Thinking of this, the warrior couldn't help but recall what Love and Decay had said not long ago—that after the Sage returned from the Extreme Dark Abyss, he was no longer the same Sage.
Was there... similarity between his current state and the Sage's back then?
"Holy Light... Light Weapon... Sage..."
Closing his eyes, Joshua's human form slowly dissipated within the silver star—he no longer had the energy to maintain a humanoid communication terminal. At this moment, the warrior's consciousness began to diverge: "Ha, the Sage couldn't possibly have been as arrogant as me, bearing the despair of the entire Abyss and all the Evil Gods alone back then..."
Perhaps.
Maybe.
Joshua stopped this line of thought.
All thought threads began to converge and focus. All computational power was used to suppress the increasingly turbulent despairing world memories and the ever-strengthening battle divine nature. One could see crimson light flowing within the silver star, like blood-red lightning shuttling through silver clouds.
Admittedly, the aftermath of the battle was severe.
But if Joshua had to choose again, he would still do it.
No one knew if the Death Evil God might suddenly reorganize at any moment, rendering all sacrifices and efforts futile. No one knew that the Death Evil God's power and essence were so powerful that without the most targeted weapon, even breaking its defense was extremely difficult.
In the deepest part of the Extreme Dark Abyss, chaos dominated everything. Without the blessings of the gods and the Boundless Divine Power, Joshua couldn't even move. If he hadn't used the light weapon, he would have already become the condensed core of the Death Evil God, his self-consciousness dissipated, and he would have even transformed into an Evil God to destroy the Mycroft World and many others.
Compared to such future possibilities, the current situation was merely a bit troublesome.
At the bottom of the Genesis Maelstrom, six-colored divine light shimmered. A silver star world radiated light, but gradually dimmed.
A long time passed.
During this period, there were several fluctuations of space-time magic, or void warships arriving nearby, gazing from afar. Many people broke through the increasingly strong repulsive force of the Genesis Maelstrom, just to catch a glimpse of the silver world.
Some were worried, some troubled, some full of confidence, some just wanted to see the spectacle... But months passed. The end of the year 840 of the Falling Stars Era also passed. The silver star remained unchanged, still dim.
Until one day.
Mycroft World time, January 20, 841 of the Falling Stars Era.
An ordinary, mundane day with no visitors, only the silver star slowly rotating at the center of the maelstrom.
The world's outer shell finally regained some light.
The being hidden within, recuperating, was gradually awakening.
Inside the silver world, at the core of the central star, Joshua's incarnation condensed once more. This time, the incarnation was very complete, without any strange flaws.
"Half a year has passed... Although I set up automatic collection and guidance programs before hibernation, I still wasted a lot of testing time."
Calmly looking at his palm, Joshua clenched his fist, then released it. He looked up at the many heroic souls on the sky-islands, following the guidance program to relearn knowledge, and nodded: "At least there's still half a year. It's not too late... And before that, I should go back once. Otherwise, they'll definitely be worried."
At the center of the brightest star, the warrior surveyed his world alone. His expression was calm, but an invisible pressure surged, making those who looked at him feel as if they were facing an angry deity. One could see that around the silver star, the nine sky-islands rotated like nine planets. The civilized heroic souls, which had begun to interact and cooperate, along with many flying silver fairies, brought some vitality to this originally silent world.
Watching this scene, Joshua's eyes, which had been as cold as a machine, gradually softened. After a moment of silence, he muttered to himself: "But there are still some things I need to do."
As he said this, the entire world began to rumble and shake.
The former Extreme Dark Abyss, now the Genesis Maelstrom, the black-and-white torrents continued to conflict and rotate.
The accumulated world wreckage of thousands of years, mixed with the magic tide force pouring from the Void Great Maelstrom, had turned into a torrent capable of shattering everything, grinding all into the smallest Steel Particles.
But at the center of this extremely dangerous maelstrom, a slightly dim silver star floated at the bottom of the vortex eye, seemingly unaffected by the surrounding environment, firmly embedded in the most intense undercurrent, enduring the endless scouring of material torrents.
And now, this silver star, which had endured half a year of scouring, suddenly showed some mutation.
One could see that on the originally perfectly smooth surface of the silver world, several depressions suddenly appeared. These depressions rapidly formed holes leading deep into the world's interior, and a large number of cylindrical particles, seemingly made of steel, gushed out from them, mixing into the Genesis Maelstrom.
Although these cylindrical particles were called particles, that was only relative to the Genesis Maelstrom. In terms of size, each steel cylinder was about a meter tall, and its material was extremely hard. Even the grinding of the Genesis Maelstrom could not shatter its surface, only carry it along.
The silver world opened three hundred and sixty depressions, each gushing steel cylinders for about five minutes. From a distance, it looked as if the silver world was breathing in extremely cold, dry air, with large amounts of white water vapor gushing from the gaps, then dissipating into the maelstrom.
After doing all this, the silver world fell silent again—but unlike before.
Because a beam of light detached from the world's pole, dragging a long trail of light, rapidly departing toward the normal World Star River outside the maelstrom.
...
January 20, 841 of the Falling Stars Era, Northern Lands, Moldavia Territory, Inner City Lord's Manor.
The afternoon sunlight passed through the thick tempered glass, scattering onto the dark brown desk. Dust floated in the sunlight, rising with the heated air—and rising with the dust was the magic projection of a certain Winged Lady.
In the silent, cool-toned study, the level-seven authority artificial intelligence, who should have been controlling the main server of the Magic Net, stood blankly near the ceiling of someone's study, seemingly lost in thought.
One could see that this study, which had clearly been unvisited for a long time, was filled with a large number of books. Some were thick history books, such as *The Origins of the Thirty-Six Western Mountain Kingdoms* and *The Lineage of the Northern Imperial Family*. Some were popular novels that had recently become hits, such as *Dimensional Expedition: Record of Otherworld Exploration* and *Small Worlds: Endless Fun*.
Of course, the vast majority were texts on transcendent power. One could also find, on the edge of the desk, a large pile of densely written manuscripts, seemingly containing various new and special methods of cultivating transcendent power. The author seemed to have considered the reader's level and deliberately written them in a very easy-to-understand manner.
Everything was perfect, except that the handwriting on the manuscripts looked too stiff and ugly, which was a slight drawback.
The Winged Lady simply watched all this. Her gaze was scattered, her mind seemingly wandering far away.
"What's wrong, Number 3?"
Suddenly, a familiar low male voice appeared at the door.
This too-abrupt sound clearly startled the artificial intelligence, who had been daydreaming. Her projection immediately vanished for a moment before hastily condensing again.
And at that moment, a man opened the door and entered the study. He looked up at Number 3's location. Joshua asked calmly, "Did something happen?"
"...No."
Eyes wide open, Number 3 stared at the man at the door. She wanted to say many things—like the recent hard work of Firefly and Lin, Black's diligent training, Little Light growing a bit bigger... She wanted to say that another batch of students had graduated from Winterfell Academy, that the warrior's students had become the backbone of the Empire's Foreign Exploration Department, and that because of the worldwide suppression of otherworld chaos, many old acquaintances had advanced in strength.
There was so much she wanted to say.
But in the end, it became only a plain, simple sentence.
"Nothing happened here."
Slowly descending from her position near the ceiling, Number 3 smiled and replied: "I was just waiting for you to come back."
"Ah."
Joshua Van Radcliffe replied like this. Although his tone was stiff, almost like a mechanical response, he still smiled and said: "I'm back."