# Chapter 14: The Stagnant Multiverse
"If not for the Great Khan, if not for those Star Shepherds crossing the void on their journey to our World Star River, who happened to pass near the periphery of our Astral Dragon Mother World and contaminated it with a trace of the Mother World's Steel Force, causing my inheritance to react—I still wouldn't have been able to discover this truth until now."
The massive dragon horns atop his head, the Dragonman form of the Ten Thousand Steel Dragon God slowly shook his head. One could see his bronze-colored long hair swaying like water ripples. He gazed into the distant void and spoke with a complicated tone: "The reason I only wished to tell you, who also possesses Steel Force and holds the authority of the Soulflame King, is precisely out of caution. I also know that only you, who can likewise see the phantom of Steel Force, can understand that my words are not false!"
Joshua stared at the phantom of the Star River manifested by the Dragon God's power in the distant void. With his current strength, he could naturally tell that it was not a randomly fabricated forgery, but genuine Star River wreckage revealed through the resonance of Steel Force.
"We only just protected our own World Star River from destruction at the hands of the Death Evil God."
Joshua gazed for a long time, then lowered his eyes to look at the vanguard fortress cluster busily operating before him: "And now you tell me that not far from our Star River—no, I should say, surrounding our Star River—are all the wreckage of other worlds' Star Rivers. They were destroyed long ago, yet we knew nothing of it."
This was far too ironic.
Thinking thus, Joshua couldn't help but shake his head and fall silent. On the other side, the Metal Dragon God still gazed into the distant Star River wreckage, his expression gentle yet firm. He stared at a certain patch of void in the distance, pitch black, devoid of any light, where even hazy outlines were unclear. But the Metal Dragon God still watched unblinkingly, without the slightest change.
Because that was his homeland.
The Astral Dragons had left their native soil countless years ago... To escape enemies they could not withstand, they abandoned their original world and fled to a foreign Star River. They rested and recuperated upon the Mycroft Continent, witnessing the rise, glory, and self-destruction of human civilization. Some of their kin had already forgotten their homeland, becoming children of this gentle world.
But some things could not be forgotten. Even after thousands, tens of thousands, or a hundred thousand years had passed, fallen leaves still wished to return to their roots.
"Don't worry, Lord Radcliffe."
Without turning to meet Joshua's gaze, the Metal Dragon God continued to stare into the distant void. He spoke softly: "If there truly were some terrifying existence within the Star River wreckage—say, a Star River-level Evil God, or that batch of Chaos that destroyed our homeland back then—then the 'Star Shepherd' race would have been absolutely unable to traverse that long corridor and reach our world."
Saying this, the Dragon God who inherited the title of 'Ten Thousand Steel Dragon' from the Era of Falling Stars smiled: "Besides, I've long been prepared. On the road to my homeland, I will constantly elevate my power to the limit, ensuring I can enter the 'Divine Annihilation' state at any time. That way, regardless of whether there are enemies, I can guarantee the elimination of all traces of myself, without implicating any of you."
Compared to death, what was more terrifying was being forgotten. Long before making this series of decisions, the Metal Dragon God had already arranged successors and contingency plans. The Metal Dragon Clan had been contracting their power in recent years anyway, so they wouldn't collapse without him as their deity. The Ten Thousand Steel Dragon felt he had prepared everything; he only needed to finish explaining the final matters before setting off immediately.
"Lord Radcliffe, the place I'm going to is designated Star Domain 1249031. If I don't return, that means the danger there is unimaginable. At that time, I implore you to stop the Metal Dragons' actions to return home, and also make the people of Mycroft stay as far away from there as possible."
The Ten Thousand Steel Dragon's voice gradually faded. The Metal Dragon God's Dragonman form began to slowly dissipate, and then silver-glowing divine power surged, recondensing in the void into a massive dragon-serpent image. He had a body similar to a Steel Serpent, but with a dragon's head and wings. His long, sleek, and powerful limbs elegantly trod upon the void, while his long tail, covered in sharp scales, coiled at his side like an ancient giant serpent.
The Dragon God turned his head and spoke gently in a low voice: "However, there's truly no need to worry too much. Because according to my speculation, the destruction of those World Star Rivers was probably not caused by battles between powerful beings. There should be no enemies there."
This was the first time Joshua had seen the Ten Thousand Steel Dragon's true form. Indeed, the Metal Dragon God did resemble a combination of a Steel Serpent and a dragon. It seemed that back then, before the Steel Serpent of the Astral Dragon Mother World was about to die, it had indeed entrusted all its power to its children. It did not blame them for fleeing; it only hoped as much as possible that they could rely on its final power to live a little better.
"Then what caused these World Star Rivers to be destroyed?"
Joshua could tell that the Ten Thousand Steel Dragon's resolve to leave was firm. Even if he himself were to fight the Dragon God, he probably couldn't stop this divine dragon. No wonder the other party had invited him here to meet. The vanguard fortress cluster was located at the edge of the World Star River. Here, even if a battle broke out, it would take some time for the Six Gods to arrive. And because of the influence of the Mental Deviation Value at this moment, Joshua might still be able to fight, but he couldn't stop this seemingly gentle Dragon God.
However, just as the warrior subconsciously voiced his question, some memory fragments suddenly flashed through his mind.
Time distortion... the different time reference frames experienced by Mycroft World and other worlds within the World Star River... and also, just now, the large number of ancient star charts the Metal Dragon God had stuffed into him... Compared to the star charts from the Era of Radiance and those observed by Mycroft Civilization itself, the more ancient Astral Dragon Civilization's star charts seemed to have many peculiarities...
"Wait."
Seeming to have grasped some inspiration, Joshua raised his hand, stopping the Metal Dragon God who was about to answer his question. The warrior stroked his chin and began to frown in contemplation: "Although I can't fully explain it yet, it's not impossible to establish a model... Number 3, help borrow a bit more computing power from the Magic Net's main server. I need to eliminate the influence of the Mental Deviation Value as much as possible."
"Understood." Seeing Joshua's serious instructions, Number 3 naturally wouldn't say much. Pale blue data streams frantically flowed through the Artificial Intelligence Girl's eyes and hair. Gradually, including the computing power of Number 3's own server, almost all the idle computing power of the entire Magic Net began to tilt toward Joshua.
After receiving support from such vast computing power, Joshua began to close his eyes in contemplation.
Meanwhile, within his mental space, an immensely huge 'Simplified Multiverse Model,' containing thousands upon thousands of World Star Rivers and nearly infinite worlds, began to slowly activate.
Joshua recalled from the Plenty Evil God's memories the nearly infinite First Flame, and the countless worlds and ancient civilizations revolving around it.
If, at the very beginning of the multiverse, all World Star Rivers revolved around the First Flame...
Then the speed at which these World Star Rivers revolved, relative to the void independent of the World Star Rivers themselves, was probably unimaginably enormous. And this excessively large speed difference was enough to place the revolving Star Rivers and the static void in two completely different time reference frames.
One had only just passed a few months, while the other had already flown by a thousand years.
"This time reference frame-induced space-time distortion is the 'time seal' I previously deduced regarding the Dominant Will of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground. Back then, I deduced that an incomparably powerful existence had struck the World Star River where Mycroft World was located, causing Mycroft World to pass twelve hundred years in an extremely high-speed reference frame, while other worlds whose speed didn't match Mycroft World's, due to different reference frames, had already passed several thousand or even tens of thousands of years."
But was it truly 'Mycroft World' that was 'struck away'?
Transcendent worlds fundamentally don't need the common sense of the mortal realm. Don't let conventional thinking bind your thoughts, Joshua.
Thinking thus, the warrior reached out and pressed down on the Mycroft World Star River, which was rapidly breaking away from the constantly rotating center of the multiverse within the 'Simplified Multiverse Model.' His gaze flickered as he returned the Lost Star River where Mycroft World was located to its original position, allowing it to continue revolving around the First Flame.
Then, Joshua 'paused' the rotation of all other World Star Rivers except for the 'Lost Star River.'
In that instant, one could see that the Lost Star River, still rapidly revolving around the First Flame, was like something struck away, breaking away from the densely packed and prosperous 'World Star River Cluster,' arriving at a seemingly void and silent distance far from all worlds.
But even so, it was still the one revolving around the First Flame. What was left behind were all the other World Star Rivers, which seemed to be the main bodies.
"I see... This can also be explained."
Seeing this scene, Joshua, who had been completely confused, immediately understood one possible reason for the destruction of the World Star River where the Astral Dragon Mother World was located. He stared at the multiverse model operating in a bizarre manner within his mental space, unable to help but murmur softly: "It's not that we were struck away—it's that other worlds were left behind!"
"Mycroft World is still revolving around the First Flame, but the other World Star Rivers—especially the one where the Astral Dragon Mother World was located—had long since stopped moving forward, completely frozen!"
One revolved around the First Flame at an incalculable speed, while the other stood independent of the void, completely stalled... One had only just passed a day, while the other might have already seen a thousand years flow by.
No wonder... No wonder the Astral Dragons searched for tens of thousands of years and still couldn't find the Mother World. Because they weren't even in the same time reference frame! Compared to spatial separation, the difference in time reference frames was the greatest seal in this world. How could they possibly find the way home!
After understanding all this, even with Joshua's willpower and courage, he couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath. He stared at the simplified multiverse model before him, clenching his fists with extreme gravity.
Because the danger was only just beginning!
"Year 831 of the Falling Stars, Mycroft World's time flow aligned with the outside world... I originally thought this was because the unknown force that struck the Star River had dissipated. But now it seems, quite the opposite!"
The reason Mycroft World's time flow aligned with the outside world was precisely because this Lost Star River, which had traveled alone for a thousand years, was now gradually slowing down like other Star Rivers, no longer revolving with the First Flame!