Chapter 36: On the Scale of the Multiverse
“I will resolve that issue.” Joshua, however, was already prepared for this. He shook his head and said, “The mental acceleration technology used on the Continent of Strife has been verified as mature through internal testing. Although using it to learn knowledge may lead to unclear memories, at least what is remembered during the accelerated process retains partial memory under normal thought patterns. As long as they pass the assessment, we should be able to quickly train a batch of crew members with basic skills.”
The virtual mental acceleration technology used on the Continent of Strife was fine for gaming—after all, games are simplified versions of reality—but limited by the technology, the Continent of Strife could not simulate a one hundred percent realistic Void Warship. Knowledge taught within it was also prone to forgetting and gaps due to the mental acceleration.
Nevertheless, through accelerated education in both reality and the virtual world, it was possible to quickly train a batch of basic crew members. This was certainly not the best choice, nor did it help with the Mycroft World’s shortage of personnel, but at least it could solve the immediate problem.
“Compared to these matters, Your Holiness, I am more curious about the strength of those otherworldly experts.”
Regarding the old pope, who had fallen into deep thought, Joshua looked at him with some confusion, his gaze fixed on the other’s palm—the location where the space-time rift had once been. He said slowly, “The ‘strength’ you speak of—what kind of strength is it exactly?”
“Probably… about the same as ours.” Eagle snapped out of his contemplation, pondered for a moment, and then said, “The person who severed the space-time rift is very strong. The feeling they gave me was that their foundation was as vast as an entire world’s worth of mass… I’m afraid it’s not far off from your original body.”
This was already considered very strong. Even in the Era of Radiance, the current Joshua was among the top-tier experts, second only to the Sage and slightly inferior to the full-power state of certain main gods. The pope himself was at a similar level, at most lacking in large-scale destructive power.
However, upon hearing this, Joshua frowned and said with some regret, “About the same as us? That’s it?”
Was that all there was?
“What?”
Hearing Joshua’s words, Eagle looked up in shock, staring intently at the warrior. He spoke in a strange tone, “Isn’t that enough? How strong do you want your opponents to be?”
“I’m not criticizing you, Joshua. I know you crave powerful opponents—that might be your nature—but this is a matter of civilization level. The weaker the unknown friend or foe, the better it is for us. If all our enemies were as strong as the Death Evil God, that would be our disaster.”
“No, Your Holiness, this is actually a bad thing.”
Joshua shook his head, disagreeing with Eagle’s view. The warrior surveyed the entire superconducting magic silver world—this strange, high-energy magical world had not nurtured any life except for lightning elements. All the mineral veins in the entire world contained small amounts of superconducting magic silver. After scanning the area, he turned back, his expression serious as he spoke with Eagle: “Over tens of thousands of years of space-time distortion, so many world star rivers, countless civilizations thriving, competing, warring, destroying, and slaughtering each other… With such a vast battlefield and stage, so many stories and epics, only ‘experts’ similar to us, or perhaps even slightly weaker, have emerged.”
“Is this really a good thing? Not at all.”
Although it was somewhat difficult to understand, it was indeed the case. For the current Mycroft Civilization, this might be a good thing, but if you extended the timeline, expanded the perspective, and broadened the view to the scale of the multiverse, then it was a complete and utter bad thing.
“The Evil Gods are so powerful. Even the unformed Death Evil God, if it were to act formally, would have the power to annihilate us instantly. In that case, the existence that gave birth to the Evil Gods, the existence lurking behind the shadow of chaos—how strong must it be?”
Saying this, Joshua couldn’t help but laugh. Although he said it was a bad thing, he wasn’t tense. Discussing a potentially powerful enemy didn’t bring any fear either.
The warrior simply followed his own train of thought: “Actually, this argument is somewhat biased. After all, not long ago, we observed the appearance of the ‘Shadow.’ If I’m not mistaken, then over these tens of thousands of years, other world star rivers have also given birth to existences similar to the Sage level. But aside from the Sage-level existences, are there any experts stronger than us but weaker than the Sage? Is there such a tier?”
Hearing this, Eagle gradually began to understand what Joshua was specifically trying to say. So he nodded thoughtfully, indicating his agreement, while Joshua continued.
“If such a tier existed, why wouldn’t they detect us first? The stronger someone is, the more curious they are. I don’t believe they would face an unknown star river without making a move. Since they didn’t, it proves that this tier doesn’t exist. The first to detect us were existences at a level similar to ours, which suggests that the highest tier of external experts is probably similar to ours… That’s why I think this is a bad thing.”
Saying this, the warrior couldn’t help but sigh, then ended his argument.
“…I roughly understand your meaning.”
Hearing this, Eagle finally understood Joshua’s point. His idea was actually very simple.
Currently, both Joshua and himself had reached a bottleneck. Both of them, as Legendary beings, had achieved combat power on par with true gods. But to continue advancing, to become stronger, they would need to give up something or make a choice they were unwilling to make.
If Joshua wanted to become stronger, he needed to solve the problem of ‘world mass.’ A world could grow infinitely, but the strength of its world barrier also increased infinitely. If one day, the strength of Joshua’s own world barrier became so great that even he couldn’t break it, what difference would that be from him turning into a black hole, locked within his own event horizon?
It would be like the super-massive single world in the Rebirth Plan—existing nearly eternally, but only as a turtle hiding in its shell, merely existing.
As for Eagle himself, if he wanted to become stronger, he would probably have to choose the path toward ‘partial infinity’ as a god, expanding the finite speed-of-light domain to the level of ‘infinite light.’ But even then, he would only be an extremely powerful main god-level existence, still looking up to the Sage.
If this was the usual limit of supernatural power, then in the future, how would they face countless Evil Gods and the experts that might exist behind them?
That was why Joshua felt it would be a good thing if other worlds had experts stronger than them.
If otherworldly star rivers had existences that surpassed this limit, experts stronger than the two of them, it would prove that there was still a path ahead. If not, it would mean that the miracles brought by supernatural power ended here, proving that Joshua and Eagle’s paths were also nearing their end.
Next, they would either be trapped here, unable to advance half a step for the rest of their lives, or they would blaze a new trail, bringing a brand-new supernatural power to the multiverse while becoming the next Sage.
And that was far too distant. No one knew what was needed to become a Sage.
“…Sigh.”
Thinking of this, the old pope couldn’t help but want to say something, but in the end, he just remained silent and shook his head.
Joshua didn’t have much of a mental issue; at most, he was a bit disappointed. Soon, he looked up. The warrior’s gaze could penetrate the world barrier, clearly seeing the endless world star rivers behind it.
“The human body has limits… Humans are creatures that live on the earth, creatures that live within a world. So, with just the body, humans cannot fly, cannot venture into the void.”
Gazing at the star river, the warrior spoke thus: “So humans chose wisdom, using wisdom to develop technology and methods of cultivating supernatural power. Whether it’s magic, battle qi, psionic energy, holy light, or the mana armor and void warships worn on the body, in the end, they are all products of human wisdom.”
“Using a mana gun and using a magic attack have no essential difference. Extending life through battle qi cultivation and extending life through physical modification are the same. These are all realms that the human body cannot reach—the radiance of wisdom.”
“But human wisdom also has limits. When we use the fruits of wisdom to make our bodies fly and venture into the void, we touch a higher barrier. Ordinary supernatural life, when facing a star river, becomes as fragile as humans on the earth. When facing the void that spans between worlds, they are as powerless as primitive humans looking up at the sky.”
That was why subsequent cultivation emerged, the Ultimate Essence that surpassed limits, and the Legendary experts who transcended the Ultimate Essence to become super lifeforms entirely.
Joshua lowered his head, meeting Eagle’s gaze. The two were silent for a moment.
When life surpassed the limits of ordinary supernatural life and became Legendary experts—a different concept of life—even the star river became like a backyard, freely walkable. If ordinary humans were just mundane life living on a continent, then Transcendent beings could survive on a world scale, and Legendary experts were beings naturally belonging to the void. A single world was too small for them; only a star river could satisfy their desires.
“…But even so, there are still limits.”
Looking directly at Eagle, Joshua spoke thus. His tone was calm, devoid of any emotion, as if he were merely stating a truth: “Above the endless world star rivers, there is the multiverse.”
That was an even grander concept.
“Unlimited consumption of matter, self-proliferation; conversion of mass, energy, and soul, obtaining seemingly infinite energy.”
“Self-sustaining ecosystem, self-creating planes, worlds; even incarnating oneself as a complete world.”
“Turning oneself into light, sublimating into a constant of one’s own domain; freely altering the existence of external worlds and external universes.”
“Creating stars, suns, or even more terrifying celestial bodies to attack opponents, with violence at the level of star domains.”
Looking up again, gazing at the star river, Joshua spoke slowly. His speech was very slow, and everyone knew who he was talking about, what abilities he was describing. The warrior’s tone remained calm: “Able to evolve, rapidly adapt to any environment, any attack, learn any race’s techniques; photographic memory, drawing inferences, instantly memorizing any ultimate move used by anyone and reproducing it with runes, even making it stronger; controlling minds, controlling hearts, finding the tiniest flaw in even the strongest person and planting a terrifying seed of the mind.”
“The power of Legendary is truly strong, isn’t it?”
Indeed, it was very strong. To this, Eagle remained silent. He could say even more, but the old pope knew that all these abilities were meaningless.
“But what meaning does it have?”
Just as he thought, Joshua lowered his head, no longer gazing at the star river. The warrior said with some regret, “This level of ability is just the foundation… Rather, if you can’t even do this, can’t do it well, what right do you have to call yourself an expert, to look toward the star river?”
“Your Holiness the Pope, in the end, this level of ability is, on the scale of the multiverse, nothing more than that.”
Facing this higher stage, we need even greater power.
Only then can we become the experts who defeat all enemies and survive to the end.