Chapter 51: Combat Power Classification
In the Jetram Star Domain, almost all warships had been taken away by the legendary experts, leaving only a few escort vessels patrolling the Jetram World, overseeing the Spirit Clan laborers who were laying the foundation for the Space-Time Hub matrix. The elemental lifeforms created by Baniel, acting as overseers and verifiers of the foundation runes' correctness, patrolled back and forth among the vast number of Spirit Clan laborers.
The vast majority of Spirit Clan laborers had noticed that the combined fleet had departed, and that powerful combat fluctuations were erupting outside. But even though they guessed that another civilization might be attacking, not even a hint of chaos appeared throughout the entire Jetram World. After a few words of admiration, everyone lowered their heads again and continued working.
This was not only because the Mycroft people's management style and friendly attitude made these aliens unwilling to resist, but also partly because Baniel was still here.
A legendary expert remained in this world, debugging the super-massive structure named the 'Origin Hub'.
In the Jetram World, night was slowly falling. The sun was setting, and lights were gradually turning on across the planet's continents. Day was fading, night was approaching, and the magical light shining with a neon-like radiance was illuminating this primitive land, bringing it the daylight of civilization.
Giant mana armor suits, piloted by professional Mycroft engineering team members, were working like titans. Elemental beings also worked alongside the psionic laborers. Amidst the bustling scene of foundation inscription, which was gradually spreading outward step by step, one could see lakes being filled, mountains being split, hills being leveled, and rivers being cut off at their source.
—In the face of the 'Cross-Star River Space-Time Hub', which required nearly half a continent's surface area as the base for the teleportation array, the naturally formed magnificent scenery and terrain were all obstacles to the project. Mountains, rivers, lakes, and canyons with histories spanning tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years, some even more ancient, were being reshaped by the power of 'civilization' into flat spell-array foundations.
The old mage, his robes neat and his hair white, stood at the top of the Origin Hub. He looked down at the land, watching the lights spreading outward in all directions, a gratified smile on his face. Then Baniel raised his head, gazing at the void above, and his expression gradually turned serious.
He saw Joshua's battle with the High Patriarch, saw the light of their attacks illuminating the entire star domain. He could sense the abnormal space-time teleportations that occurred several times, and the jump fluctuations of Joshua's translocation to the distance—he was a legendary expert. Baniel could clearly perceive the energy level of their battle, a level he could not yet reach.
To support a civilization in a transcendent world, a strong individual was necessary.
An ordinary legendary expert could support a nation. A slightly stronger one could unify an entire continent. But to unify the entire world and lead a civilization into the void, one needed to be even stronger. Baniel considered himself not yet at that level. At most, he could unify an entire world without other legendary experts present, but he could not possibly lead everyone into the void and the future.
Only Joshua, as it now appeared, only Joshua had this potential. Only he could lead everyone to raise their heads and advance towards the other side of the sky.
"...Although, it is said that after the legendary high-rank, there are no more level divisions, and it relies on the self-exploration of the expert... But even being the same legendary high-rank, the difference in strength is too great."
Thinking this, Baniel shook his head with some self-mockery, couldn't help but sigh, and then touched his beard, which had grown longer recently in the Silent Void, showing a look of emotion: "Ah, ah, if one doesn't strive to improve, being surpassed by juniors... it really happens in an instant."
If Ultimate Essence meant surpassing the limits of life, then Legendary was about sublimating this original 'limit' into a new 'foundation', becoming a transcendent ultimate lifeform, a super lifeform beyond the imagination of ordinary life.
At the legendary rank, realm was no longer tied to level, because it was merely a classification describing a state—so-called legendary low-rank referred to those who had initiated an irreversible transformation and succeeded, but still lacked completeness. Among these, naturally, there were powerful individuals who, without completing 100% transformation, could defeat those who had completed it. Moreover, the intensity of this combat power was linked to the civilization from which the legendary individual originated. Back in his day, at this stage, Baniel could already defeat some legendary magical beasts on the Mycroft Continent, beasts that had long completed their transformation and reached legendary mid-rank.
Legendary mid-rank generally referred to those who had completed 100% transformation but had not yet fully developed their own unique legendary combat methods. They were in the process of exploration, thinking, imagining, and conceptualizing. Humans completed this process much faster than void behemoths and magical beasts, because as early as the low-rank or even Ultimate Essence stage, they already had their own unique combat methods. They just needed to slightly adapt to the combat power of the legendary level.
Back then, Baniel took less than seventeen seconds to fully achieve legendary mid-rank mastery, quickly grasping the combat power of 100% rune-body transformation.
After mastery came the so-called boundless legendary high-rank. At this point, there were basically no classification boundaries. Everyone was exploring the end of their own path. Moreover, according to the oral account of the Radiant Legend Yarnamillo, even the successful individuals of 'True God Sublimation', except for being called True Gods due to cultural factors, were merely upgraded versions of 'artificial legendary sublimation rituals'. Of course, the requirements were also so high that, except for legendary high-rank experts who had comprehended divinity, success was almost impossible.
The Psychic Overlord, with the weakest physical destructive power, was legendary high-rank. The Black Mist Mother, strictly classified, was also legendary high-rank. Baniel himself was legendary high-rank. Joshua was also legendary high-rank—at this level, despite being the same rank, the gap in combat power between them was even greater than the gap between Black Iron and Legendary. The most top-tier legendary high-rank could fight head-on against Evil Gods, with strength comparable to True Gods, and some True Gods couldn't even surpass them in short-term burst power.
Even Evil Gods, in fact, had not completely transcended this category.
Joshua was traveling through the one-dimensional space of psionic energy—his flagship, the Indomitable, had a jump coordinate he had specifically set. As long as it was within the Indomitable's range, no matter how far away or whether it was in the void, he could quickly initiate a jump and travel to its location. During the traversal, the warrior was calmly thinking.
—Even Evil Gods, especially the weaker ones, had strength within the currently known scope of legendary high-rank.
The weakest known Evil God, the Atmospheric Evil God, the Decay Evil God that had just been freed from its seal, the Sloth Evil God, and another Evil God that had just been born and was destroyed before it could be named, all belonged to a level that a powerful legendary high-rank, such as a Saint, could hold off single-handedly. Their power was enough to destroy a small void civilization on their own and damage planetary structures, but that was about it. Even Joshua, who had just advanced to become a world, considered himself not needing to worry about beings of this level. Powerful legendary high-ranks like Israel, Barbarossa, and Faina were not incapable of dealing with them, and joining forces made it even more secure.
The next level up was probably the complete form of the Decay Evil God, with countless minions and a protection system, as well as more serious Evil Gods like Imbalance, Famine, and Calamity. According to the records of the Unified Grand Database, their power was equivalent to the concentrated strength of an entire void civilization. An individual of this level was equivalent to a civilization plus an entire world, easily capable of altering stellar structures. Even their minion invasions were a great disaster for ordinary void civilizations, and their names were spread across many worlds.
Joshua felt that he was now strong enough to block an Evil God of this level. But without actual combat, he couldn't determine the process. It might be very simple, or it might be very difficult. However, winning should not be a problem. Beings of the level of True Gods and the Old Pope should also be able to handle Evil Gods of this level. But there was too little data to be certain, after all, the strength gap between Evil Gods was also very large. For example, the Black Mist Mother should also be at this level, but it required the combined efforts of seven True Gods, plus the assistance of many legendary experts, to eliminate it in a short time—after all, being able to fight back and forth was one thing, eliminating the opponent was another. The latter was many times more difficult than the former.
At the level of a large void civilization, there should probably be a powerful existence capable of directly blocking various Evil Gods. Otherwise, it would be difficult to ensure the long-term stable inheritance of the civilization. The alien psionic expert they had fought earlier, and the being called Emperor Amos, were at this level.
The next level up was probably the 'Plague Evil God', which looked like an Evil God but was essentially an alienated super lifeform, the 'Infinite Sublimation Virus'. It could be regarded as a berserk 'legendary lifeform'. The Plague Evil God was clearly one level stronger than other Evil Gods. One of its subsidiary minions, given the opportunity, could become a legendary-level Plague Mother Beast, almost like a different kind of void behemoth. After devouring a civilization, perhaps even its minions alone would be stronger than the Atmospheric Evil God.
And the Plague World, as the mother body, was the destination and nest of all these mother beasts. Although it had not yet shown any obvious strength, judging from the headache it gave the Steel Serpent of the Star Sea World, the threat of the Plague Evil God was in a league of its own. Even Joshua could not yet estimate how strong this 'Infinite Sublimation Virus', which had sublimated who knows how many worlds, races, and times, truly was. And since they hadn't encountered a powerful Evil God of the same level yet, it was placed in its own category—perhaps it was on par with the Black Mist Mother? Who knew, after all, no one had actually fought it.
Above that were the 'Outliers' that transcended the ordinary legendary category.
The Plenty Evil God, an ultra-ancient Evil God born over a billion years ago, was so powerful it could shake the Star River. Merely passing by extinguished the light of countless worlds, tearing a scar in the World Star River. The Atmospheric Evil God was even a byproduct of its footsteps. The gap between them was almost incalculable. Joshua could only estimate the Plenty Evil God's power by extrapolating from the strength of the 'Death Evil God', only to find that such imagination was utterly meaningless. Because whether it was the Plenty Evil God or the Death Evil God, had it successfully gestated, its power could destroy countless worlds in an entire World Star River.
And the Sage could defeat it.
"So, Joshua, you are far from reaching the end of the road."
The warrior wanted to stay calm. He knew that uncontrolled battle intent was the fuse that triggered divine nature chaos. But Joshua simply couldn't suppress the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. He murmured to himself: "The Multiverse is still vast. Ahead of me, there is still a path."
At the same time, at the edge of the Origin Star River.
Between worlds, in the region with the thinnest concentration of matter, the so-called 'necessary passage' for large-scale fleet movement.
Ring-shaped spell arrays unfolded in the void, like deep blue water ripples. Teleportation lights flashed in succession, causing huge silver warships to surge out of the deep blue space-time fluctuations, forming a majestic steel formation. On both sides of this formation, one side was a fleet of ships shining like brilliant gold, the other was a dark fleet shrouded in shadow, its features completely indiscernible. Then, accompanied by even more intense space-time fluctuations and the long, deep roars of void behemoths, eight void behemoths traversed space-time, appearing at the very front of the fleet, like a huge shield mountain.
For the Multiverse Star River, this fleet had a strange shape. Not only did it lack a flag, but it also had no large flagship serving as a coordination hub. However, this fleet bore a unique emblem. On their outer armor was the mark of a meteor falling, illuminating the earth—the most fitting symbol of the people of the Era of Falling Stars for their own time.
The behemoths and the gold-and-black two-colored fleet formed a distinct triangular horn formation, with the silver fleet at the center of the formation. At the triangle and the center, powerful transcendent energy fluctuations rose and fell. If a fellow legendary expert were to observe, they would be shocked to find that this seemingly small fleet contained the auras of over ten super lifeforms.
But the expeditionaries from the Mycroft World did not feel proud because of their own strength.
Taking over Joshua's duties as the temporary fleet commander, Faina frowned deeply. This veiled sage stood on the bridge of her flagship, gazing into the endless distance of the void.
She could see a metallic Star River approaching mightily from afar. The sheer mass of their fleet was so great that, even across vast space-time, it produced a clear lensing effect. The structure at the edge of the Star River was altered by their movement. Darkness blotted out the sky, advancing steadily.
She could sense a presence in the distance, so terrifyingly powerful that it involuntarily reminded her of the Seven Gods, the Old Pope, and even the essence of that man himself... But it was not like the Seven Gods, who transcended the mundane by possessing infinite power; not like the Old Pope, who was unstoppable due to utmost sincerity and devotion; and not like that man, who was incomparable due to absolute purity... It was a terrifying aura, like the embodiment of destruction itself. Its very reason for existence seemed to be to annihilate everything before it, to annihilate everything 'weak'.
Besides these two terrifying presences rapidly approaching, there were many scattered fleets at the edge of the World Star River—among them, quite a few should be reconnaissance ships sent by civilizations around the Star River, or a small squadron of fast cruisers, probably just observing out of curiosity. After detecting the scale of the expeditionary fleet and the terrifying auras within it, they immediately turned back and jumped without a second thought, without any hesitation, just like reconnaissance ships that accidentally encountered a void behemoth. However, apart from these, there were still some fleets and powerful individuals who, confident in their own strength or believing that the Mycroft civilization would not target them, merely changed course slightly, preparing to go around from the side.
"What was our discussion earlier?"
The voice of the Sword Saint Lamotte came through the communication spell array. This old man, who looked young but actually had several great-grandchildren, laughed easily: "We should let none pass. No one can go through this place, right?"
"Indeed."
Came the echoing voices of other legendary experts from the communication array. In the Multiverse Star River, the distance between World Star Rivers was not long, just a somewhat turbulent space-time chaotic current zone. The easiest void passage through the space-time chaotic current zone was located at their current position. By guarding this place, even if not fifty percent, at least forty percent of the invaders would be blocked. As for the remaining sixty percent... after all, the World Star River was so vast, who could guarantee a one hundred percent interception rate?
It was enough.
From now on, as long as they could observe a ship, not a single one would be able to cross the barrier they had formed.
Thinking of their own recent improvements in strength, and the secret weapon that was being teleported in, all the legendary experts and all the crew members possessed such confidence.