Chapter 53: Wide-Area Aether Control Device (Second Update, Two-in-One)
“The alien super-cluster fleet has stopped advancing!”
“Are they afraid?”
“Not exactly, but they must be quite puzzled, haha!”
Yarnamir and the Nature Mentor stood in the rear central control room of the giant ‘Metal Flower.’ The two powerful legendary ladies smiled with restrained pride. The first launch of the joint fleet’s long-hidden superweapon had achieved complete success, naturally a source of pride for legendary experts.
“Even in the Era of Radiance, the ‘Wide-Area Aether Control Device’ was merely a concept that existed only in blueprints. I never imagined that you… that we of the Era of Falling Stars could perfect it and turn it into a real weapon!”
The winged human legend Yarnamir initially murmured to herself, but the latter half was directed at the Nature Mentor. She spoke with a look of emotion: “Even though there isn’t a single person in the entire world who has achieved legend status through aether-based transcendent power, Mycroft Civilization still managed to create this superweapon!”
“We should thank you for your authority. If not for your specific screening, it would have taken us over a decade just to retrieve the design blueprints from the Unified Grand Database.”
The Nature Mentor still wore a faint smile on her lips. She stroked the semi-organic structure in the central control room, her face full of pride—this terrifying weapon, which had just annihilated an entire fleet in an instant and swept its attack across nearly half the void, was called the ‘Wide-Area Aether Control Device.’ Forty percent of its structure had been grown bit by bit through ‘cultivation’ methods in the core area of her ecological ship.
The reason for this was precisely because there was no legendary expert in the entire Mycroft World who wielded aether power. Thus, with everyone’s help, the Nature Mentor could only nurture an ‘Aether Life Tree’ and then use it as the core to build this massive superweapon.
In this multiverse, there are many types of transcendent power, known as ‘Arcane Arts.’
Some use mana, some command elements, some manipulate aether, some control psionic energy… And any being that uses one of these four types of transcendent power is generally called a spellcaster.
Mana is the primordial remnant of the First Flame’s power from the dawn of creation. Just as Steel Force resides within life forms, transforming into Life Energy, the source of Battle Qi, it decays from pure creative force. Originally chaotic and filling the world, it was difficult to discover and even harder to utilize—until one day, when mana across the entire multiverse became active, allowing all spiritually powerful intelligent life to master and control it.
The six elements—perhaps more, but only six are common—are active energy particles spread throughout the multiverse. They are powers based on mana but transcending it. Elements can imbue any transcendent power with attributes. Whether Battle Qi, magic, psionic energy, or aether, they can all be mixed with elements to produce various strange properties. Pure elemental magic, in essence, creates and commands various elemental life forms by connecting elements through runes.
Psionic energy might be the oldest transcendent power in the multiverse. It originates from wisdom, thought, and the activity of spiritual will. Its foundation is the strange connection between spirit and matter—denying the reality of matter and indulging in the extraordinary nature of psionic energy is actually a misuse. The essence of psionic energy is the radiance of the mind, just as the First Flame burns away chaos. The radiance of the mind can transform the reality of matter. If the material world ceases to exist, psionic energy loses its meaning.
As for aether…
This ordinary, seemingly unremarkable transcendent power, lacking powerful users, has a very peculiar essence.
It is the transcendent power that controls ‘direction and force,’ a direct manifestation of work and energy levels. It merges into magic but has no characteristics of its own—yet this doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. In fact, most spells like magic shields, protection from arrows, wave light cannons, telekinesis, and city-crushing palms are aether spells. Any mage actually cultivates three transcendent powers simultaneously: ‘mana,’ ‘elements,’ and ‘aether.’ This is why the talent requirements for mages are so high, their numbers far fewer than clergy or warriors, and they are exceptionally prone to straying into narrow paths.
Moreover, compared to pure mana worlds, aether and psionic energy worlds, pure aether worlds are actually very numerous. In worlds where aether is dominant, the difference between land and sky is exceptionally small, because beings or people who can control aether can fly with ease. If their talent is strong enough, they might even fly just by ‘wanting to fly.’
In fact, within sufficiently dense aether spheres, the foundation of land is meaningless. In special environments, powerful aether can generate extremely strong ‘levitation force,’ lifting an entire continent and suspending it on a nearly flat ‘aether layer.’ This is why various sky island worlds, floating continent worlds, and sail-powered floating warship worlds exist.
The Bloodmoon World, the predecessor of the Sillai World, was a sky island world with extremely dense aether. The entire world’s matter was completely supported by a massive aether cycle. Mycroft World’s aether concentration is not high; instead, mana and elements are relatively dense. This is why fairies, natural elemental spirits, were born—another difference between worlds.
Now, the ultimate creation that the Mycroft people are proud of, capable of annihilating an entire void fleet in an instant, is the transcendent magical weapon called the ‘Wide-Area Aether Control Device’!
And its effect is very simple.
It can completely and thoroughly eliminate all excess ‘force’ from everything within a certain range.
In other words, it can completely return all matter within a range to a ‘static’ state.
“Static… If it were the old me, I might have wondered how mere stasis could be considered a weapon or an attack.”
As the creator of the ‘Aether Life Tree,’ the core of the ‘Aether Control Device,’ the Nature Mentor is naturally the main controller of this superweapon, with Yarnamir assisting in fine-tuning. Galannod chuckled softly: “But only when I entered the star river and understood that all things are actually in constant, rapid motion, and that the rotation of the star river is our rotation, did I immediately realize that ‘stasis’ is the most terrifying attack.”
—Just as not long ago, Joshua told me the terrifying fact that the multiverse had fallen into stagnation. Only then did I understand that sometimes, stasis might be true destruction. The countless dark remnants of destruction spanning between the Multiverse Star River and the Lost Star River testify to this.
Yarnamir did not reply. She slightly raised her head, looking at the light screen before her, where the fleet of the unknown civilization had suddenly ‘disappeared.’
Was it disappearance?
Not exactly.
They were merely ‘exiled.’
All the force that had been imposed upon them since their birth—the temporal turbulence and void entangled with worlds across the entire World Star River, the entire Multiverse Star River—was completely eliminated. They were no longer carried forward, like a person jumping from the top of a speeding carriage, left far behind by the racing vehicle.
In an instant, they were exiled into eternal, forbidden darkness, entering another time stream, or perhaps being smashed into debris by the World Star River running on its orbit—who knows? In the extremely distant Star River Virus Ann, one might see the wreckage of those fleets? Or even see their long-decayed dust.
This is a death more terrifying than destruction.
“They have been exiled. From our reference frame, even if they aren’t dead, time will teach them what ‘loneliness’ truly means.”
The Nature Mentor said softly, controlling the petals to slowly close, storing power for the next attack. The Archdruid looked up at the light screen opposite, at the Knowledge Seizer fleet cautiously confronting them: “This is the power of the Wide-Area Aether Control Device—a might comparable to legend.”
Relying on the biological fortress on the back of the Void Behemoth and the various semi-intelligent combat plants the Nature Mentor had cultivated over time, the joint fleet was holding back the Knowledge Seizer fleet’s advance despite being vastly outnumbered. But this was also because the enemy wasn’t forcing a breakthrough at the cost of losses. Both sides were still in a probing phase. Especially after the appearance of the Wide-Area Aether Control Device, the entire front-line fleet of the Knowledge Seizers began forming a massive defensive fortress through ship merging, to guard against possible ‘unknown’ attacks.
“How’s Joshua doing over there?”
Outside the Aether Control Device, Sword Saint Lamotte rested one hand on his sword sheath and asked casually: “I’m not much use in this kind of fleet battle. If he needs help, I can go back and assist him.”
“I don’t know, but it should be fine.”
Faina scanned the surrounding void. Through various special means, she could sense that there were almost no observers nearby. Even if there were, they were at the far side of the star river. The Sage narrowed her eyes: “Don’t leave. The enemy’s high-end combat power hasn’t appeared yet. If they send special units to destroy the Aether Control Device, you’ll need to act. Besides, on the other side of the void, that extremely terrifying aura should be another incredibly powerful being. We might need to join forces to deal with it then.”
“As you wish.”
The Holy Sword Wielder was very carefree—that was his nature. But soon, Lamotte frowned again, looking at Faina: “Wait, are you gathering momentum?”
“No…” Because she was also commanding the fleet through psionic communication, her attention was divided. Faina didn’t react at first, but soon she also sensed something wrong: “No, the void is vibrating. This frequency is a Psionic Leap—Joshua? No! It’s that otherworldly strongman who suddenly attacked—he’s coming!”
The speed of the Psionic Leap was so fast that by the time the joint fleet began to disperse, a ring appeared behind the fleet’s void, accompanied by azure-violet light. An energy humanoid radiating endless psionic lightning leaped out from it. But to the surprise of the Mycroft people on high alert, this powerful transcendent being didn’t pay any attention to the nearby joint fleet. Instead, it rushed rapidly toward the distant void, leaving a trail of light.
“That direction… is the direction of that rapidly approaching strongman in the distance?”
Realizing this, Lamotte, who had been about to strike from behind, sheathed his half-drawn sword. He blinked, a bit puzzled: “Even if it’s to rendezvous with allies, there’s no need to be so urgent… He attacked our headquarters before, and this time he could have attacked our fleet’s rear… And why does he seem so aggressive, as if he holds a grudge?”
The Holy Sword Wielder had no idea he had hit the nail on the head.
Soon, accompanied by an even stronger mass fluctuation, a massive crimson ring appeared in the same position as the azure-violet ring. Joshua stood on a silver micro-star, breaking through the void. He also had no time to greet the joint fleet and instead rushed forward at top speed, chasing after the direction of the High Patriarch.
Before leaving, the warrior left a final message.
“Those are two top-tier transcendent beings as powerful as my main body—their civilizations seem to be eternal enemies. Now that they’ve met and started fighting, it’s good for us.”
“But to prevent accidents, I must block the aftermath of their battle, ensuring their fight doesn’t spill over into this battlefield… Remember, we must never let any civilization from another star river hinder our process of building the ‘Space-Time Hub’! No matter how difficult, once the hub is built, our reinforcements can arrive!”
“Do we need you to tell us that?” In response, the Holy Sword Wielder and the Sage shook their heads in unison. Having Joshua remind them of their mission’s purpose was hard to swallow. Then, one looked up at the seemingly restless Knowledge Seizer fleet, while the other raised a hand, spreading vast psionic energy to envelop the entire fleet, creating a special array technique unique to the Spirit Clan, the ‘Psionic Circle.’ Before the silver star truly left communication range, Faina sent a message to warn Joshua: “Still, be careful, Joshua. It might be a trap.”
“That psionic user might think you have great power, just the right thing to borrow…”
“I already guessed that—but so what?”
Could I possibly not go?
“…Forget it, don’t worry about him.”
Laughter rang out, momentarily silencing the other legendary experts, especially Faina. But this was Joshua’s usual modus operandi, not particularly surprising. So the Sage could only sigh and, after he completely left this void, turned back to continue buffing the fleet.
“After all, our battlefield is here.”
In the void, Joshua kept chasing the psionic trail of Georg. He stood on his star, arms crossed, expression unchanged.
The movement speed of strongmen at their level was ten times faster than a fleet. Before long, the terrifying aura in the distance was rapidly approaching. The relative distance between them shrank at a rate of thousands of worlds per instant.
This chase continued until Joshua could ‘meet’ that fleet.
Arriving at his destination, Georg suddenly stopped. Then, the one-eyed, aged High Patriarch, without a word, activated the ‘Falsehood’ rune on the twelve star rings above his head and vanished into nothingness—naturally, both Joshua and the so-called Emperor Amos knew that the other was merely hiding, waiting for the two sides to fight so he could profit as a fisherman.
It was a simple scheme that even a six-year-old could easily see through, but it was extremely effective at this moment.
Because the two sides meeting were simply too powerful—so powerful that their mere existence was a threat to each other.
Joshua gazed at the fleet before him, not as massive as the Knowledge Seizers but still considerable in scale. But in the warrior’s eyes, those grotesque and eerie warships—or rather, powerful transcendent beings transformed into warship forms—were nearly invisible. He could only see the incredibly massive ‘being’ surrounded by that spectacular fleet.
It was like a star—no, it was a star-like being.
What appeared before the warrior was a huge, almost world-covering nebula crystal, with countless electromagnetic arcs flickering within it. This cloud-like, supergiant star structure seemed like an ordinary nebula, but it was filled with white and silver frameworks. Thousands of leaf-like structures rotated along the framework’s spin, forming massive storm vortices on the nebula’s surface. While generating extremely powerful propulsion, it also devoured surrounding free energy.
Nebula tentacles could be seen extending from the edges of many vortices, making this supergiant nebula being look like some kind of supergiant luminous jellyfish. But this was only the shape. In essence, those seemingly fragile nebula clouds were actually solidified aether crystals, supported by invisible aether, making them one of the most durable shields in this observable multiverse.
This supergiant being’s diameter alone might exceed three million kilometers. Its inner core was obscured by layers of leaves and white nebula crystals, but Joshua could see clearly: there were several stars inside—a triple star system had been forcibly stuffed into this giant being’s body, and it was visibly aging at an accelerated rate.
“Star devourer, the path of the Void Behemoth… no, it’s far stronger than that.”
The warrior murmured: “This should only be a part of his main body—his true form is likely a multi-star complex like a small galaxy, a supergiant nebula lifeform! It’s an evolutionary path I once conceived!”
But this path only had an absolute advantage in ‘power.’ It was lacking in finesse, structure, and subsequent evolution. However, these weren’t the main reasons. After all, Joshua’s current path—his main body transforming into a world, with his avatar fighting in a neutron star form—also had many shortcomings. The real reasons Joshua denied this path were the excessively long development time and the irreversible damage it caused to other worlds in the star river.
And it was irreversible damage.
Joshua’s ‘world,’ even if it absorbed matter from other worlds, only made the habitable world inside him larger. If he absorbed a dead world, it could even be said to convert non-recyclable resources into useful things, benefiting the entire World Star River. A supergiant nebula lifeform, while powerful, destroyed other worlds with every bit of its growth, completely converting them into its own power. Unless this lifeform died, the mass it plundered would never return.
At this moment, the supergiant nebula being, called ‘Emperor Amos,’ also ‘gazed’ at the being before him with his energy perception.
It was an unremarkable silver star, barely over ten thousand kilometers in diameter—pitifully small to him. But as one of the strongest in this star river, the Emperor knew clearly that this being, though seemingly tiny, actually had a density approaching, or even surpassing, that of a white dwarf.
“Hiding his strength? Or reducing consumption.”
Emperor Amos had long spied on the joint fleet’s progress through the void. At that time, he could clearly see that this silver star was at most a dozen kilometers in diameter, its density far greater than the stellar remnants he had finished absorbing, reaching the terrifying density of a neutron star—before such defensive density and the power to control such mass, size meant nothing.
“Disperse. This is not your battlefield.”
An immense stream of information was transmitted through the flickering of stellar flares, commanding the bizarre ships around him to leave—if it were a fleet battle, those strange ships could each hold their own against ten enemies, but now, it was better to avoid unnecessary losses.
“You clearly know that he is only luring you, a strongman, here to drain my power.”
The energy surge of the stellar flare contained a majestic information stream.
“You clearly know that I came specifically to stop you, to prevent you from affecting our plans.”
The silver light flickered, carrying the warrior’s calm will.
The ships of the Amos Royal Court retreated. Joshua did not stop them, and Emperor Amos said nothing. Both sides achieved their goals—forcing back the alien civilization’s fleet and preserving their own. At this moment, they hadn’t even exchanged names or communicated, but it was clear that the surrounding starfield was growing brighter and brighter, even illuminating some dark, dead worlds.
Their paths had similarities and differences, but without a doubt, both followed the ‘massive’ route. Georg had certainly seen this and intended to use one against the other—but he also knew this was just a wishful hope. As long as both sides weren’t fools, things would never develop as he imagined.
So, at the moment when the light was pushed to its peak, both Joshua and Emperor Amos snorted coldly and simultaneously ‘turned,’ unleashing violent temporal-spatial fluctuations toward a dark corner of the void. In the next instant, the hidden High Patriarch, waiting for his opportunity, was forced out of his false state and appeared in the void.
The next moment, he was solidly struck by a combined attack of two overwhelming, incomparable forces: a temporal-spatial storm of energy and surging gravitational waves!