Chapter 38: Change and the Final Stop
Joining the joint expedition fleet hosted by the Mycroft Civilization was no simple matter. Leaving aside how the Shalt people, the Star Shepherds, and the Abyss Demons selected their own elites, just considering the Mycroft people themselves was enough.
Those chosen to join the expedition fleet were impeccable in both strength and status. Some had extensive experience in void exploration from earlier times, while others were identified as exceptionally talented and well-suited for void navigation, making them qualified as reserve crew members for the fleet.
These carefully selected reserve crew members underwent accelerated indoctrination learning in both their Psychic Terminals and reality, combined with practical operations in the real world. Within just four months, a large batch of void crew members with some experience were thus 'manufactured'. Although most of these crew members only knew how to operate things, under the guidance of experienced crew from the Star Shepherds and Shalt civilization, those who had passed numerous assessments in the spiritual world could smoothly translate their virtual experience into reality.
Now, with the fleet's training concluded, crew members from all over the world, meticulously chosen and even subjected to mental screening, began to assemble. They were transported by one void transport ship after another to the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, and their final destination for teleportation was the vanguard fortress cluster at the edge of the World Star River.
One could see that on the side of the Mycroft World facing the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, several dozen points of light lit up, followed by hundreds more. They dragged long trails through the dark spacetime turbulence, like distinct strings swaying with the fluctuations of spacetime.
At this moment, countless people were watching this scene.
In the void beside the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, the Nature Mentor observed this scene, while the Holy Sword Bearer and the Rune Master stood nearby. Having happened to be handling matters at the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground, they saw countless points of light flying toward their direction. This seemingly ordinary sight made these Legendary experts, who had been famous for who knows how many years, feel both gratified and emotional.
"Ten years ago, I couldn't have imagined this scene at all."
The Holy Sword Bearer muttered to himself, unconsciously stroking the common sword he carried. His tone was complex with a hint of emotion: "Back then, I was still playing hide-and-seek with those cultists in the Western Mountains. They hid among the crowd, using ordinary people as shields. I thought I would spend my whole life doing chivalrous deeds and playing hide-and-seek with those scumbags. Who would have thought that just a few years later, the cultists went crazy one after another, jumping out on their own to be wiped out by us, and I lost my reason for wandering. Life suddenly became peaceful and boring."
"Soon, we'll be heading to a foreign star river."
The Rune Master Baniel stroked his beard, speaking somewhat absentmindedly: "You restless one won't be bored for long. That place will definitely have plenty of things for you to cut. You'll surely get your fill of cutting."
"Swords are for thrusting and slicing, not cutting. If you old fool don't understand weapons, don't talk nonsense." The Holy Sword Bearer had no mood to argue with his old friend either. He watched the void transport ships, his tone somewhat playful: "Speaking of which, ten years ago you were still running around looking for ancient dragons, right? Now you've found them, but you've also become bored. In the end, you're just like me."
"At least I don't go around dressed in rags all day, making my holy sword look like a rusty iron sword, pretending to be weak to catch the strong off guard. So tacky."
...
The Nature Mentor didn't bicker like the two old fools beside her. At this moment, Verdani was recalling her own ten years ago, a hundred years ago.
Ten years ago, what was she doing? She was worrying about the future of the elves, deducing a new path of nature. She was racking her brains, trying to find from ancient texts the direction in which the Father of Nature had departed. She lived a hard and confused life.
A hundred years ago, that was even more distant. At that time, she was still assisting the Elf Queen in suppressing the various elven nobles of the Eternal Lake, gathering the power scattered among the twelve clans into the royal court. She competed day and night with other Archdruids in the depth of the nature path, living a hard but happy life.
And now, she didn't need to think about anything, didn't need to worry about anything... She had already found a path for the elves. So from now on, whether they followed this path or forged a completely new one themselves, that was no longer something she needed to consider. The Nature Mentor could finally consider her own life, her own future.
"Ha, ten years ago, could I have imagined this kind of life now?"
Muttering to herself, Verdani shook her head.
Of course not. No one in the Mycroft World could have imagined it.
Ten years ago, the Mycroft people were still living an ignorant and unenlightened life on the eve of the industrial age. Farmers had to work the land themselves, and after paying taxes, a year's hard work barely allowed them to get by. Artisans, hunters, and people of all other professions, as long as they didn't have supernatural power and become professionals, were bound to their local area. Even leaving the city required caution, lest they be preyed upon by magical beasts.
At that time, Mycroft had none of the splendor of the Radiant Civilization. Although called successors, they were merely primitives living in the ruins left after its destruction.
But now, everything was different.
Thinking this, the Nature Mentor turned around and looked at the center of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground behind her, at those Transcendent experts living in the satellite cities and the ordinary people serving them.
Now, the Mycroft people lived relaxed and happy lives. Their lifestyle was something she absolutely couldn't have imagined ten years ago. Everyone could eat their fill, could freely leave the city to travel anywhere. As long as they had enough money, they could even hire Transcendent experts to take them on a trip to another world.
Farmers no longer had to rush to plow before the season. They only needed to take out a loan to buy a set of agricultural mana armor. Even a sixty-year-old man with half his teeth missing could finish in one day what used to require the whole family working together for a week to barely accomplish. And the miners, whose work was extremely hard and occasionally cost lives, were now less useful than the overly popular puppets that were cheap and easy to use. Most of them had transformed from manual laborers into technicians who took puppets to inspect mines and reinforce tunnels.
Except for some rural areas where mana technology hadn't been popularized yet, almost everyone had a Psychic Terminal. In their spare time, they could browse forums, play games, and train their spirit while being entertained. If they were confident in their skills, they could even challenge the high-difficulty instances of the Continent of Strife and receive enhancements that could be reflected in the real world. Such a life was absolutely unimaginable for everyone ten years ago.
And it was also unimaginable for a certain warrior in his previous life.
The changes brought to this world by the technological explosion were truly mind-boggling.
Although the massive appearance of mana armor and puppets caused many people to lose their jobs, this didn't mean there were fewer job opportunities. The disappearance of the most basic manual labor jobs actually promoted the boom of the upper processing and service industries. The vast majority of ordinary people who sold their physical strength learned skills through virtual courses set up in their Psychic Terminals, supporting themselves with another, easier job that required more wisdom.
Besides this, the concept of nations and races was disappearing.
Thinking this, the Nature Mentor looked at the two Legendary experts from the Western Mountains beside her.
Not to mention that there had never been much barrier between elves, dwarves, and humans, now the concept of the four major human settlements was gradually fading. With the retreat of the Black Forest and the extermination of magical beasts, various new villages and cities began to appear in the originally uninhabited wilderness. The border between the Western Mountains and the Northern Empire was no longer just the Bannert Plateau. To the northwest of the empire's southern fortress group, a small plain corridor originally covered by the Black Forest had appeared, now becoming a major trade channel between the two settlements. The southern part of the empire, which had been slightly declining due to the disappearance of the Black Tide, once again became extremely valuable land.
Because of cooperation among the top experts, and the forced alliance in the face of increasingly powerful enemies, the entire Mycroft Civilization was gradually moving toward a 'federation'. Take, for example, the newly risen Emperor Roman of the Western Mountains. After making compromises with the psychic power families, this Emperor Roman successfully merged many small states and unified most of the Western Mountain region.
If it were the original times, this would have been similar to the Northern Empire, the prototype of a major power called the Western Mountain Empire. But unfortunately, this was no longer the era of empires. The Nature Mentor still remembered the brilliant expression on Emperor Roman's face when he was brought to the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground and received information about this star river and the multiverse from the various Legendary experts.
He was shocked, amazed. He had never imagined that his own civilization had once been so great, and that the enemies they were about to face were so terrifying. He had never imagined that beyond the bright world lay nearly endless darkness.
But every person capable of great things was definitely not a weak coward. The former Grand Duke Roman, now Emperor Roman, became energized after learning the truth of the world. He had been somewhat dispirited after fulfilling his life's wish, but the new truth of the world made this great figure, who had felt that 'everything was done', reignite his fighting spirit.
The strong are not people whose vision is bound by narrow lands. Roman sent almost all the elites of his newborn nation to join the expeditionary force, and he himself began to train hard, hoping that one day in the future, he would formally join this grand stage not as the leader of some local power, but as a Legendary expert.
Meanwhile, at the vanguard fortress cluster.
Joshua and Nostradamus stood side by side at the forefront of the fortress cluster. At the edge of the World Star River, they gazed into the distance at the end of the World Star River.
One could see that in the depths of the dark void, there was a faint silver ribbon. This ribbon was hazy and illusory, vaguely extending into the pitch-black void... It seemed like just a cloud of energy mist brought by the Great Magic Tide, but both Joshua and Nostradamus clearly knew that it was not energy mist from the Great Magic Tide. On the contrary, it was unmistakably the light of stars.
"That is where the fleet will set out from."
The old mage stared at the distant silver ribbon, speaking softly: "It is there that the Star Shepherds landed. A long road composed entirely of the wreckage of countless shattered worlds, a vast nebula layer made of countless Steel Particles. That is the dividing line between the 'Dark Void' and the 'World Star River'."
Inside the ribbon was the bright World Star River; outside the ribbon was the empty, dead void.
"Yes."
Joshua also stared at the black void. After a moment, the man closed his eyes.
"That is our final stop before we leave the World Star River."