Chapter 30: Strange Space-Time Rift
Bloodmoon Abyss, Blood Sun.
The sunlight shone upon this broken blood-colored world, bringing a glimmer of life to the abyssal realm.
No, now it should not be called broken—all the shattered floating islands had been condensed into a vast continent. Even the small, distant floating islands that had not yet merged were gradually approaching the location of the Bloodmoon. Compared to decades ago, when this world was as silent as death, the Bloodmoon Abyss now, with its Tree of Life and numerous small creatures, did not feel like an abyss at all unless one deliberately sensed it.
One could see that the enormous Tree of Life, under the will of the Bloodmoon, had transformed into a completely different form from before.
If the Tree of Life originating from the Elf Clan resembled the most common birch tree, then now, the Tree of Life of the Bloodmoon Abyss was more like a 'banyan tree.' One could see a colossal tree supporting heaven and earth, its canopy absorbing all sunlight, while its roots pierced through the entire continent, even extending to other scattered floating islands.
Countless aerial roots hung down, coalescing into trunks and roots at various points on the continent. Compared to the rugged terrain of the continent, with its deep valleys and high mountains, the branches spanning the continent had become the most convenient transportation routes.
When Joshua and Unit 3 descended into the Bloodmoon Abyss, this was the scene they witnessed.
The giant tree, favored by the world, had unified the continent, and countless small creatures nested and thrived within it. The tree did not monopolize all the sunlight; from the gaps between its branches, countless fragmented rays of light spilled out, casting numerous light spots on the ground, bringing light and heat to the creatures living on the earth.
Additionally, the giant tree itself emitted light. Beneath its enormous branches, a green light, weaker than sunlight but gentler, radiated outward. Bathing in this purest natural force, any creature would feel comfort.
At this moment, joyful cheers from the Light Humanoid could be heard from the center of the Bloodmoon.
The Light Humanoid was essentially Xiao Guang. However, because its main body was too massive and it itself was the core of the Bloodmoon Abyss, it could not go out and wander around with the warrior. Thus, it had split off Xiao Guang as a sub-plant to move about. Xiao Guang used a Psychic Terminal to play Continent of Strife—it was actually controlling the terminal to play. Now, having just obtained the first server-wide clear, Xiao Guang was at its happiest. Because of its will, the entire Bloodmoon Abyss rippled with a tide of light.
Within the tide, one could see something taking shape and being created in the Bloodmoon's strange blood-colored sea... Seeing this, Joshua immediately raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
"Stop playing."
As the warrior released a portion of his power, the Bloodmoon immediately noticed Joshua and the others' presence. The Light Humanoid paused for a moment, then let out a happy sound, forgetting what it was creating.
Joshua smiled and shook his head, then flew above the Bloodmoon.
"Impressive, being the first in the entire world to clear the game. My Xiao Guang is the smartest."
When he reached the Bloodmoon's surface, numerous light tendrils rose from the planet's core, seemingly wanting to touch Joshua. Joshua patiently stroked each one, then praised it: "I thought Nostradamus and the others would be the first to clear it. I didn't expect it to be you. That really surprised me."
Continent of Strife primarily tests a person's comprehensive abilities—the ability to discover problems, raise questions, solve problems, and summarize and implement the answers. Passing the first stage proves that one at least has some ability to identify problems, to recognize what they lack, and to find the genetic components they need from a complex environment.
If someone passes the second stage, it proves they can understand what their race lacks and what it needs to supplement. They must already have a concept in mind. Such a person, in the real world, could be considered intelligent. With talent, reaching Silver High-rank would be a trivial matter. With the Great Magic Tide descending now, Gold-rank would not be difficult either.
The third stage tests one's ability to solve various strange problems. Discovering and raising problems is not enough; having a plan is good, but what if the plan has loopholes? The third stage tests precisely this. Only those who can solidly resolve the loopholes in their plans can be considered elites, capable of going further in reality. The same applies to Transcendent power.
The fourth and fifth stages involve summarizing all problems and answers, and implementing one's perfected plan under the high pressure of external invasion. Completing this does not guarantee reaching Ultimate-rank—that depends on luck—but the potential for Gold High-rank is absolutely assured. Even without talent for Transcendent power, one would have the potential to become a high-level executive in the real world.
Of course, since the game is still in its early launch phase, it is not strange for Legendary experts to make mistakes due to unfamiliarity and fail to clear it.
Continent of Strife, though appearing to be a game, is actually a method to select potential individuals within a civilization. While decomposing Chaos for Joshua, it also enhances their power, accelerating the birth and advancement of Transcendents. This is why all Legendary experts wholeheartedly helped the warrior perfect this game.
It is a different assessment and screening method rooted in the Psychic Terminal, separate from reality.
As the first to clear the game, aside from some imperfect rule settings that allowed Xiao Guang's fungal race to develop for too long in the early stages, it also proves that Xiao Guang, as a World Will, is qualified. It may seem naive, but it has actually absorbed a vast amount of knowledge and cultivated a reasonable problem-raising and problem-solving thought process.
However, Joshua had come now not only to praise Xiao Guang but also for another purpose.
"Listen, Xiao Guang."
Joshua patted the light tendril beside him, then turned to indicate the energy foam churning in the blood sea. He said bluntly: "That fungus you used to clear the game is not suitable to be your 'chosen race.'"
"Huh? Ding-dong?"
The Light Humanoid let out a somewhat panicked, questioning sound: "Ding? Why... why?"
"Although this game can simulate the process of cultivating a race—for beings like you and me, it's the process of raising our 'children' and 'chosen races'—"
Joshua, though a burly man who cared about nothing but combat, had always been patient with children. This was probably because, in his past life as a martial arts dojo master, he had taught many children—though the hardship meant only one had persisted. He softened his tone and comforted: "But a game is just a game. It simplifies many things and accelerates many evolutions and mutations. Xiao Guang, think carefully: if you wanted to add a trait to a race, how long would it take to correct and perfect it? And in the game, how long does it take to replace a genetic component?"
Unit 3 watched this version of Joshua with a horrified expression... Although she had long known that Joshua was extraordinarily kind to younger individuals...
But come to think of it, everyone around him, including herself, seemed to be relatively young in appearance... Could it be...
Joshua naturally did not know what Unit 3 was thinking at that moment. He was simply filled with a sense of responsibility as an educator when it came to teaching children. He continued explaining in detail to Xiao Guang: "The Mobian Giant Fungus alone would take billions of years in the real world just for its early spread and development. And the time for it to land on the continent, spread globally, and erode the entire world would be no less than a billion years. Think about it: without the game's genetic component setting, could anything in this real world just devour something, absorb it, and immediately modify itself to use it? No. Even if it could, there would be a long period of assimilation, modification, and adaptation."
In Joshua's view, the Mobian Giant Fungus was a super-race that could almost only exist in a game. If placed in the real world, it would take billions of years to develop. By then, the sun might have gone out—where would the time come from? Moreover, its rapid development and fierce combat were entirely due to Xiao Guang's manual control from behind. In reality, without a major threat, once the Mobian Giant Fungus ensured it would not be destroyed by natural disasters or harsh environments, this desireless fungal aggregate would simply root itself in some small place and spread locally.
In reality, special giant beasts that preyed on the Mobian Giant Fungus might even evolve, forming a unique fungal ecosystem.
Joshua was not forbidding Xiao Guang from creating this chosen race because the fungus was too ugly, but because the Mobian Giant Fungus was indeed unsuitable. However, it was not entirely useless. Apart from what was mentioned earlier, the process of the Mobian Giant Fungus's reproduction and its aggregation into a collective will was too similar to the process of a Steel Serpent awakening its will.
If extracted, optimized, and modified, it might accelerate Xiao Guang's maturation. Placed in another world... perhaps it could even artificially cultivate a Steel Serpent!
Of course, this idea was only a rough concept, but it might be worth trying.
After explaining these reasons and interpretations to Xiao Guang one by one, the Light Humanoid was indeed very regretful. But after all, it was a World Will, not a real human child, and would not be unreasonably willful. With a somewhat disappointed low hum, the creation foam floating in the blood sea dissipated—it gave up on continuing to create the Mobian Giant Fungus.
But then, it emitted a series of ding-dong sounds to Joshua, mixed with a few words of Common Language that sounded like coaxing.
"Since I won't let you create it, you want me to give you some... But Xiao Guang, don't you already have many small creatures..."
Hearing Xiao Guang's words, Joshua smiled bitterly and looked down at the entire Bloodmoon continent—many small Transcendent creatures were already thriving on the continent, and the whole world looked prosperous.
"Bigger... and intelligent!"
But the Light Humanoid did not give up. It said a bunch more things, even wrapping its light tendrils around the warrior's hand and swaying them. Joshua scratched his head and came up with a fairly decent solution.
"You want a larger, intelligent chosen race... Well, it's true that you can create some simple plants and creatures now, but intelligent creatures are still a bit early. But I can't just give you my chosen races—my chosen races are currently undergoing trials to rebuild their civilization. Once they pass their assessments, I can place them here to enrich the ecosystem."
"Oh!"
Suddenly, Joshua remembered something he had been thinking about earlier... He had planned to discuss it with the relevant people later, but now it seemed...
Bloodmoon, Abyss, orderly environment, gradually recovering ecosystem...
"This environment seems quite suitable for Goliath's requirements... Those orderly 'demons,' huh."
Thinking this, the warrior narrowed his eyes.
It could be seen as a hostage, or as a means for better 'future' development... Since the joint fleet would soon begin preparing to set out toward the distant stars, now was the time for both sides to show true sincerity.
...
"Pfft!"
The blazing sun shone high, and a fierce wind rose. The yellow sandstorm in the desert blotted out the sky and sun, bringing an intensely hot gale.
Knight Clark walked through the vast sandstorm of the alien world, spitting out a mouthful of sand-filled saliva in indignation. He muttered curses to the sky: "What 'lost a bet,' so I can't board the Void Warship and got thrown alone into an alien world to carry out a mission... Obviously, they think I'm a jinx and are afraid the ship will suddenly have an accident!"
Clark Elson, member of the First Elite Squad of the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department. To avoid various curse-type spells, the squad was generally referred to as 'Knight' during alien world communications. His specialty was driving vehicles to move the squad and, during combat, acting as the frontline to block enemy attacks and create conditions for teammates to output.
Now, he was exploring a certain desert world, enjoying a solo journey.
The scorching wind and sand struck the circular energy shield generated by the Knight's windproof cloak, curving around it. Clark, forced to carry out the mission alone because he lost the bet and could not visit the Void Battlecruiser, increasingly felt that the previous bet was a trap set by the other four members of the team. He must have been crazy to believe they would treat him fairly!
"Once I place the beacons in the designated positions and complete the mission to return... I'll... I'll..."
After thinking for a long time without coming up with a method of revenge, the Knight could only viciously say: "I'll wish them happiness and health, and a peaceful life!"
The mission assigned to the Elite Squad this time was very simple: place a few teleportation beacons in the centers of several sandstorm plateaus with the best signals across the entire desert world. Because the mission had no challenge, the squad decided to use a bet to determine who would carry out this simple task while the others rested. The higher-ups of the Exploration Department did not mind, as there were no valuable worlds to explore recently. The Legendary-level higher-ups seemed to be discussing some confidential matters and had not come to guide the next exploration direction.
The Knight thought the mission was indeed not difficult. If not for the sandstorm preventing the use of an air vehicle, he could have finished the job in a day or two. But the sandstorm raging across the entire desert world hindered his progress, forcing him to walk step by step for now.
After all, even a Gold-rank would find it very strenuous to directly confront a natural disaster. Clark had to conserve some strength for unforeseen circumstances.
Although he verbally denied being a jinx, hearing it from his friends so often made him somewhat believe it.
Better to believe it exists than not, right?
And just as the lone Knight continued walking through the desert toward his target—
Suddenly.
A small space-time rift silently appeared behind him.
Then, within a few seconds, after quietly collecting some surrounding elements and material particles, it silently vanished.
Naturally, the Knight knew nothing of this. He did not even know that his aura and overflowing Transcendent power elements had been collected and absorbed by a mysterious space-time rift, transmitted to who knows how far away.
And this mysterious and strange event did not only happen here.
It happened to many Mycroft people traveling alone in alien worlds—to almost all solo alien world explorers.
True Chapter 30: Major Events and Cards
Year 841 of the Falling Stars Era, June 25th. In the two months since the Dreadnought-class Void Battlecruiser officially launched and the Mycroft Civilization Joint Void Fleet began formation, many major events had occurred in the Mycroft world.
The first was that numerous Legendary experts jointly funded the one-time production of over 500 million Psychic Terminals, implementing the first batch of mandatory universal distribution across the entire world's population.
This universal distribution was unrelated to any class status, wealth, or even whether the people wanted it—it was forcibly distributed door-to-door, then bound, recording all personal information, including mental frequency, soul information, and individual physical bloodline origins.
Although the world's total population was about 2 billion, 500 million Psychic Terminals could not achieve universal distribution. However, this count included many children, the elderly, and those with absolutely no Transcendent talent, destined to remain at Black Iron Low-rank for life. These people could not use, or could not use well, Psychic Terminals. Excluding them, 500 million Psychic Terminals were enough to achieve one terminal per household.
Naturally, this obviously surveillance-oriented item was not accepted by most nobles and underworld leaders. But the intensity of this universal distribution and the high level of its initiators surpassed any previous effort. Even local nobles who ruled like emperors, or leaders of violent armed organizations in border regions who held power over life and death, knelt obediently and accepted the Psychic Terminals issued by local governments when faced with the warning-filled 'special edition Dimensional Slash' that could level a hill with one strike.
Through the Psychic Terminals, the release of a large amount of information and news no longer required cumbersome paper newspapers—of course, only news. Other types of reading materials still needed to be purchased physically, and Psychic Terminals generally only reported major events that required the collective awareness of the world's people. Locally, the news and newspaper market was not heavily impacted.
And visits from over 500 million people were undoubtedly a huge burden on the Magic Net. But the Legendary experts had already anticipated this. Led by Baniel, a team of Legendary experts had completely transformed the highest peak of the Western Mountain, once the World's Spine, into a massive mountain-shaped transmitter and server. The designers were naturally Baniel and Barbarossa, and the constructor was Joshua.
The second event was that the fully immersive game 'Continent of Strife,' which had generated immense popularity on the Psychic Terminal, ended its closed beta and began open beta.
This game, also known as 'Civilization Simulator' and bitterly nicknamed 'One Million Ways for Troublesome Subjects to Die,' 'You Never Know How Troublesome Subjects Will Die,' 'Continent of Troublesome Subjects,' and 'One Hundred Million Demands of Troublesome Subjects and Me Exhausted,' abbreviated as 'Troublesome Subject Simulator,' had received great acclaim during its closed beta. Although the game itself was extremely difficult, and the races cultivated were seen by players as one after another troublesome subjects with too many demands that were particularly hard to satisfy, its high entertainment value, sense of achievement, and its effect on improving one's own strength (this point was most important) resulted in a 99% positive review rate in the free app store on the Psychic Terminal.
The remaining 1% did not criticize the game itself but complained about the lack of Dwarf and Elf language versions—of course, these were actually added in a major update before the open beta, which included support for 18 minor languages, so that 1% quickly disappeared.
Currently, because the free Psychic Terminals came with the Continent of Strife app pre-installed, and because of thought acceleration, playing a round did not consume much real time, the number of open beta players for Continent of Strife was growing geometrically. Professional discussion forums and offline seminars had already appeared. This was the first game, aside from Fae Cards, to become popular worldwide.
Speaking of Fae Cards, the new version card pack was also a big news item. The annual new card pack titled 'Universe Star River' included over ten Legendary cards. Aside from creating cards for the remaining Legendary experts, there were also some Legendary spells and field cards, including, of course, renewed versions of certain Legendary cards.
Ocean Sage Faina (Neutral Legendary)
10 Cost 7 Attack 7 Health
Arrival: Consume the health of your current hand cards (excluding this card) to restore your crystal energy to 10 points.
Curtain Call: Choose a neutral card whose initial cost is not 0. Its cost becomes 0 next turn.
Chain Unique: This card and summoned characters cannot be copied, controlled, reset, revived, or returned to hand by any means.
Do you seek power? Hone your heart. Everything one desires is contained within.
A woman shrouded behind a veil stands by the sea, gazing at the calm ocean before her, while in the distance, a tsunami surges.
Immortal Divine Power (Neutral Spell Card)
18 Cost
While holding this spell card, each time you summon a creature, send a creature to the graveyard or exile it, this card gains one charge.
Each charge reduces this card's cost by 1.
When used on a hero: Your hero gains 'Immune' status, gains 10 Attack, 10 Armor, and recovers 10 Health.
When used on a summoned creature: Your creature gains 'Immune' status, gains 10 Attack, 10 Health, and gains Divine Shield and Windfury status.
When used on a field card: The field card gains 'Cannot be targeted,' 'Cannot be destroyed by effects,' 'Field card effects doubled,' and other statuses.
If this card is discarded, skip the current turn, destroy all creatures on the field, and exile them from this game.
It is time to fight.
A steel giant, larger than a star, faces the dark Chaos that fills the entire card face. Beside it are eight shattered divine radiances.
Star Bearer (Neutral Field Card)
5 Cost
Change your field to 'Star Herding Group.'
Star Herding Group: Each time you draw a card, gain 2 Armor and summon a 0/1 Void Behemoth token.
Wandering among the stars, the behemoth that carries worlds forward, and the shepherd who drives it onward toward the destined beyond.
In the dark void, an enormous crab-shaped Void Behemoth, carrying a star world on its back, flies toward the bright Star River in the distance.
...
Aside from these neutral faction cards, each class received its own field cards and hero cards. The audience for Fae Cards was also growing due to the emergence of the 'Magic Net Online Mode.'
Of course, these major news about the Magic Net and Psychic Terminals had nothing to do with the alien world exploration teams who spent years traveling to other worlds.
As Transcendent experts became increasingly curious about alien worlds, more and more people actually took action to explore them. The entire area around the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground was already surrounded by small cities belonging to different factions. It could be said that most of the original explorers, adventurers, and mercenaries, as well as ambitious individuals and minor nobles seeking to expand their territories in alien worlds—90% of the wandering Transcendents and unstable elements in the entire Mycroft world—had all gathered in this demiplane.
Naturally, their exploration could not be done as they pleased; they had to cooperate with official alien world exploration teams for joint investigations. Even so, the rewards for finding a high-quality resource world still filled these adventurers with anticipation. Amateur exploration teams that performed well would receive a 'Free Exploration Permit' issued by the authorities. Holding this token, they could apply to the Unified Will of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground for free exploration. If such a free exploration team found a resource-rich world, the official dividends alone could make them overnight millionaires.
This was a new era of pioneering and adventure. Rather than fighting and dying over a few magic crystal mines and worthless land on a narrow continent, it was better to entrust one's life and fate to the vast, boundless void and the future. Facing the vast ocean of worlds, people's blood was already boiling—perhaps for gold coins, perhaps for honor, perhaps merely for excitement and curiosity. In short, adventurers would never stop, and even death could not hinder their progress.
To this, the pale-faced members of the Elite Squad had something to say.
One of the coordinates of the numerous special mineral vein worlds left by the Metal Dragon God, the Steel Dragon—the 13th super-large rich mana vein world, temporarily named 'Superconductive Magic Silver World.'
Chaotic clouds danced, and lightning filled the sky.
Superconductive Magic Silver was an extremely special magical mineral. It generally formed during the initial eruption of Steel Force at the dawn of a world's creation. It possessed 100%—not nearly 100%, but a solid 100%—complete mana conductivity. Unlike those magical minerals that claimed '120% mana conductivity' by absorbing surrounding elements for mana amplification, it could conduct 100% of mana and information without leakage, obstruction, or error, even in dead magic zones.
It could almost be said to be the embodiment of the mixture of mana and Steel Force, these two Transcendent powers. Its output in the multiverse was extremely scarce, and it easily decayed into the lower-grade 'Moonlight Silver.' Before this, the Starfall Mycroft world had never observed any existence of Superconductive Magic Silver, so it was considered a theoretical fantasy element... until this world was discovered, prompting numerous mages to hastily come up with a name for it.
Although Moonlight Silver was also a material with excellent mana conductivity, the Seven Luminaries Council had already mastered the method of artificially synthesizing it, and the Sky-Piercing White Tower had subsequently mastered this technique as well. Due to competition between the two major magical organizations, its market value had already fallen to a pitiful level...
Superconductive Magic Silver could currently be used as the core depiction material for super-large mana arrays, greatly extending the lifespan of various arrays. Its appearance could improve the performance of various mana engines by 20% to 75% theoretically. And this was merely by substitution. If a mana engine were designed from scratch based on its properties, its performance and lifespan could be three times that of current mana engines.
The Steel Dragon lineage, including multiple Dragon Gods, had persistently observed the multiverse for countless years by virtue of possessing a portion of the Steel Serpent's power. They had naturally discovered many strange worlds, including those containing Superconductive Magic Silver—but they had no time to explore them, merely recording them. Now, the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department had received this data. They dispatched their ace, the Elite Squad that had successfully executed countless missions, even completing legendary tasks involving 'Star Shepherd,' 'Black Mist,' and 'Decay Evil God,' to explore this highly valuable world.
Then, the accident happened.