Chapter 65: The Sages (Part 2) (Double Update, Happy New Year)
The emergence of Aether allowed numerous small transcendent worlds to be born. The pure energy suns and energy crystal suns constrained by Aether, as well as the small transcendent suns that, despite failing to meet mass standards, could still produce fusion reactions, were all reasons why some originally barren small worlds could become capable of birthing life. Beyond this, the existence of Aether naturally reinforced world barriers, allowing transcendent power to enter but not exit. In this way, even if the conditions for the birth of flesh-and-blood life were not met, as transcendent power gradually thickened, elemental lifeforms that acquired 'souls' would also be born.
If the 'Aether Sage' truly existed, he must have been a person who cared for all living beings, an incredibly gentle individual. The Aether he created was the origin that allowed even small continental worlds like 'Mycroft' to gather sufficient transcendent power, and also the source that enabled numerous small worlds to give birth to life. In other words, without him, the number of life-bearing worlds in the multiverse would probably be reduced by more than half.
If arcane power is the force that creates various phenomena—producing flames, thunder, and ice beams—and elements are what label these phenomena and establish order, then Aether is what constrains phenomena, turning flames into the fireballs people want, thunder into chains of lightning, and ice beams into ice cones.
Compared to the seemingly inconspicuous yet actually very important and complex 'Aether', [Life Energy] is much easier to understand. It is the decay derivative of Steel Force, existing within any living material body. Even earth elementals, fire elementals, and air elementals have varying amounts of Life Energy within them, which is the power of 'material change'.
The reason Life Energy can heal wounds is essentially through correcting and altering the material that constitutes the body. It can restore bloody, mangled wounds to their original form, and replenish missing limbs. The acceleration of cell division and healing wounds through large amounts of eating is itself a manifestation of material change. And 'Battle Qi', derived from Life Energy, is actually the application of this 'material change' power externally. This pure and destructive force is also a form of 'material change'. Therefore, Life Energy can both save lives and take them; it can become a god or a demon.
The emergence of 'Life Energy' was probably very early, likely just a bit later than 'arcane power', but definitely earlier than 'elements'. This can also be seen from the natural birth of transcendent power in the Mycroft World. Arcane power, as a remnant of the power of creation, a transcendent force that creates phenomena, can actually be naturally converted into the 'material change' of Life Energy through certain means. The birth of the two should mark the beginning of the distinction between the earliest 'spellcasters' and 'warriors'.
As for the subsequent 'Holy Light' and 'Shadow'... Thinking of this, Joshua and other strong beings of the Mycroft civilization couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed. As fellow kin of the Sage, their analysis of Holy Light was nowhere near as deep as their understanding of other transcendent powers. Perhaps this is what is meant by 'the darkest place is under the lampstand'.
In summary, it can be determined that [Holy Light] possesses a certain 'restorative' property. Its purifying ability, when examined in essence, is to restore any phenomenon and matter to a certain 'critical threshold'. This is why Holy Light can repair wounds, expel Chaos erosion, and achieve nearly universal 'resurrection', 'healing', and 'repair'. Unlike Life Energy, when repairing a severed limb, the material change caused by Life Energy is equivalent to creating a new one to replace it, while the repair of Holy Light is equivalent to transforming certain matter and energy into the exact part the injured person originally lost.
It is precisely because the restoration of Holy Light is relatively superficial that it cannot heal some more severe injuries; its treatment requires assistance from other means.
As for [Shadow], there's even less to say. In the Lost Star River, aside from the Demon King Goliath possessing some shadow power, the entire Mycroft civilization has no holders of shadow power, leaving no examples for study. And Demon King Goliath's shadow power, in essence, still uses 'dark element' arcane power as its main body; his grasp of the essence of shadow is very shallow, making in-depth analysis impossible.
Now, the creator of Holy Light, the 'Sage', is undoubtedly a confirmed 'Sage-level' individual. It is precisely because of the Sage's existence that everyone holds a believing attitude towards what the Knowledge Seizer said about the 'Sage of Demons'.
"However, in the final analysis, the Knowledge Seizer is also a type of otherworldly civilization that is not very trustworthy. They have fought across almost the entire Multiverse Star River to collect relevant knowledge. Although they never attack civilizations that are too weak, that is probably only because they know such civilizations cannot possibly have the information they seek."
In the hall, Joshua rolled up the thin scroll in his hand, his brows tightly furrowed, his expression serious: "It is because we are powerful enough that they know a forceful takeover would certainly not end well, so they are willing to communicate. Otherwise, all our information and knowledge regarding the 'Sage' would probably have been 'taken over' long ago."
"Then, Joshua, do you mean we are not ready to communicate with the Knowledge Seizer for now?"
Hearing this, Pope Eagle, currently the strongest transcendent being on the path of Holy Light and also the holder of the Sage's legacy, spoke in a low voice: "That makes sense. After all, the Sage doesn't seem to have left any particularly special information... Unless, does his plan to head to the axis of the multiverse count?"
"No." Joshua denied it outright. "On the contrary, we certainly should exchange information. This is part of the barrier of knowledge and perception. Some things we consider utterly ordinary might be things other civilizations would never naturally know until their destruction. The same applies in reverse. The Knowledge Seizer undoubtedly holds information that we, through conventional channels, could never obtain."
"The message left by the Sage of Demons thirty million years ago is undoubtedly one such piece of information. But in my view, that so-called Sage's message is actually not the most important thing."
Having said this, Joshua paused. He originally thought that some of the strong beings and deities present would ask questions, like 'What could be more important than this?' But no one did. Everyone looked at the warrior seriously, their eyes shining.
Since Joshua was thinking and analyzing so seriously, they would certainly give him face. If not for the serious atmosphere, the lively personalities of Baniel and William would probably have them applauding on the spot.
The atmosphere being what it was, the warrior had to continue: "That is all the information the 'Knowledge Seizer' has obtained about the Evil Gods, having survived the Evil God invasion and collected data during that time."
At this point, Joshua's gaze deepened. He said in a low voice: "The so-called 'Great Calamity of Extinction' is undoubtedly another name for the Evil God invasion. The star river where the Knowledge Seizer's homeworld is located, the 'Origin Star River', was probably never originally a part of this 'Multiverse Star River'. As can be seen from the history of the ruins, the Evil God invasion they experienced is very ancient, occurring at a completely different time from the Evil God invasion of the Era of Radiance."
"Remember the Astral Dragon Clan and the Metal Dragon God? Their homeworld, and even their entire World Star River, was destroyed. The endless Silent Void between the Lost Star River and the Multiverse Star River is the remnant of countless ancient star rivers. I have reason to believe that all the worlds in marginal star rivers like the Origin Star River, on the edge of our current Multiverse Star River, are survivors from those ancient, already destroyed star rivers. Countless worlds from different times and different star rivers converged here, forming the 'Origin Star River' we see today."
The Origin Star River is the starting point for the Starfall Mycroft civilization's entry into the Multiverse Star River, but it is also the 'endpoint' where the remnants of those already destroyed star rivers converge.
Joshua's meaning was actually very simple.
For the current Starfall Mycroft civilization, the messages and legacies of those ancient Sages are indeed very precious and important. But even more important is obtaining the Knowledge Seizer's experience in resisting the Evil God invasion in the past, and acquiring the 'Evil God Information Database' they hold, similar to the Unified Grand Database, which records information on different Evil Gods!
Having inherited multiple ancient civilizations and collected data for 770,000 years, the Knowledge Seizer's Evil God information is certainly far more extensive than that of the current Starfall Era. And a civilization can only fight and kill Evil Gods more easily after knowing their abilities and traits. Presumably, the Knowledge Seizer feels the same way. The Era of Radiance, as a super civilization that successfully defeated the Evil God cluster, must possess Evil God information that they greatly desire.
Both sides need each other's experience and data. Both are orders fighting against Chaos. This is a win-win situation, and there is no need to refuse due to unnecessary worries.
"Let's set it for half a month from now. Notify the Knowledge Seizer and finalize the specific time and place for the exchange."
After some discussion, everyone quickly determined the subsequent course of action. Due to the efficiency of the discussion, without the procrastination and wrangling of ordinary people, all procedures were finalized within five minutes, and the reply was sent. One by one, the legends and deities left, returning to their posts.
Soon, the entire meeting hall was left with only Joshua and the Elite Squad.
"Stop daydreaming."
Walking up to the five who were holding their breath and barely daring to make a sound, Joshua looked somewhat amusedly at Priest and the others, who wore pitiful expressions: "It's nothing important. Even if you heard it, it's fine; it will be common knowledge in a few years anyway... There won't be any memory wiping, mind erasure, or silencing. You are my student, and that alchemist over there is an important experimental subject for my 'Star Warrior' project. Why would I silence you?"
But upon hearing this, the expressions of the priest, mage, and knight became even more bitter, as if thinking, 'So we *are* going to be silenced!' Joshua couldn't be bothered to deal with these jokers. When he had given them hellish training back then, he found them amusing, but now it seems they might be a bit *too* amusing.
Gesturing for the five to leave the hall, Joshua walked with them and said, "Don't look so glum. You still have a mission. The reconnaissance ship was destroyed entirely due to your own carelessness, but you also discovered important information about the Knowledge Seizer, so you won't be formally reprimanded this time. You will continue to carry out world reconnaissance missions, but not freely; you will follow my orders."
"Yes, Teacher!" "Yes, Marshal!"
How could Priest and the others refuse? They all agreed loudly. But immediately, Priest followed up with another question: "Teacher, which specific worlds are we going to reconnoiter? If it's the particularly dangerous kind... could we get a larger share of equipment?"
"It's a very simple task, not a dangerous world. You'll be given the specific details when the time comes. There's actually only one thing I need you to do."
Saying this, Joshua produced a silver metal cylinder from somewhere and casually tossed it to Priest. The young warrior immediately reacted, using the power of gravitational Battle Qi to steadily catch the high-density metal pillar, which weighed at least several dozen tons.
Restorative... Pillar? No, it's heavier than a normal Restorative Pillar, and more refined!
Having frequently used Restorative Pillars during his time in the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department, Priest immediately recognized the prototype of the metal pillar Joshua had thrown to him. The difference from a normal Restorative Pillar was that this metal cylinder was heavier, and seemed to have some blue gem particles embedded in it.
At that moment, Joshua had already disappeared, leaving only an invisible stream of information flowing into Priest's mind.
"Priest, when you arrive at the corresponding worlds, place one of these metal pillars in each world. It doesn't matter if they are discovered, but if possible, keep it hidden and try not to be found."
"Also, your girlfriend and your sister are looking for you at the Jetram Base area. Go meet them quickly."
"Wait, Teacher, Su Er is not my..."
Hearing the last part, Priest finally remembered what he had forgotten—he had forgotten to inform Su Er and Brandy that he couldn't go to the Star Gate to pick them up today due to an urgent matter!
It was already too late to rush over now. Priest could only put on a worried expression as his teammates offered comfort that seemed genuine but was barely concealing their laughter, adding fuel to the fire as he hurried towards the teleportation zone.
Meanwhile, already in the void, Joshua watched Priest, watched the entire Elite Squad. He watched the void base, the Space-Time Hub, the base city, and all the life within the entire Jetram World, including humans, demons, and Shalters. At this moment, the warrior's gaze was exceptionally gentle, but soon, it became calm and resolute.
Did the Sages of old create one transcendent power after another for the sake of their own life's sublimation, or to allow all living beings to live more happily and receive the blessing of 'miracles'?
This is truly a difficult question to answer.
However, for Joshua, things were much simpler.
Whoever, or whatever existence, tries to destroy the current 'order' and take away others' futures and hopes—
He will absolutely not allow it.
He will never forgive.