Chapter 66: The Fully Grown Original Body
By the time Krelle understood his current situation, he was already dead.
Within the chaotic, narrow spherical space, bright silver runes flickered. Krelle, who had just awakened from a long slumber, knew that it was these runes that had protected his soul after death and awakened him.
At this very moment, he was inside a Soul Abyss Sphere.
"I am... dead."
Having received comprehensive training before boarding the ship, Krelle, now in his soul state, quickly realized that he was undoubtedly dead. His physical body had been destroyed, leaving only his soul, which, in accordance with the contract spell, had been transferred into the Soul Abyss Sphere at the moment of physical death and awakened by the Soul Light that nourished souls.
Krelle, no surname, was from Ares Fortress in the southern part of the Northern Empire. He was twenty-one years old. Like the vast majority of Southerners, he had joined the Fortress Guard at the age of fourteen, becoming a semi-professional soldier to fight against the Black Tide and support himself and his family. The young man was lucky; he had not died in the massive impact caused by the Great Magic Tide's arrival years ago and had held on until the Black Forest was completely eradicated.
The former Krelle lived in a daze, only knowing to act upon the orders of others. He never thought about getting stronger, nor did he think about the future. So, while his colleagues and peers gradually found their own directions to strive for, preparing to change their fates in the great wave of the millennium-long transformation of Mycroft brought by the Great Magic Tide, Krelle still had no extra thoughts. He remained an ordinary city guard, patrolling his post mechanically, seemingly able to continue until he grew old and died.
But all of this changed, until that day.
A man followed by gale winds and scorching flames stepped out of an airship. He overturned the earth, swept away the forest. The demonic forest that had plagued the soldiers of the southern fortress for centuries was thus reduced to meaningless dust and floating soil at his hands. That scene—Joshua Radcliffe flattening the Black Forest—had stirred the heart of the young city guardsman at the time, causing his stagnant thoughts to shift and churn. Krelle tightened his grip on his weapon. At that moment, he looked up at the distant, barely discernible figure in the high sky. In his dreamless mind, a new 'courage' and 'lofty ambition' that had never existed before were born.
"This is what is worth pursuing with everything!"
Thus, from then on, Krelle completely changed his former mechanical, three-point-line lifestyle. He began to buy books, diligently self-studying knowledge and culture. After work, he attended cram school to make up for the knowledge he had never understood before. He spent all his previous savings, trying every possible opportunity to become stronger. And perhaps it was luck that the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department was just then looking for low-level Transcendent Beings who were daring, aggressive, and had clean backgrounds to train. Krelle, whose family had served seven generations guarding the border at Ares Fortress, thus came into their view and became a member of a third-tier alternate world exploration reserve team.
Hellish training, bizarre alternate worlds, mysterious and unfathomable Transcendence, enthusiastic and reliable teammates... The former Krelle was reborn here. His performance was excellent, his progress remarkable, and he was even commended several times. His alternate world exploration missions were repeatedly completed with 'excellent' results. Although his gains were far less than those of the exploration teams that often encountered all sorts of trouble, in terms of safety and stability during the exploration process, he was top-notch.
Of course, Krelle now wouldn't dare boast about his safety and stability anymore. Just looking at the fact that his escort ship was blown up by a stray shot, resulting in the collective death of forty people, all rolling into Soul Abyss Spheres, it was clear his luck had run out.
"Tch... this luck is absolutely terrible!"
Recalling his manner of death, Krelle, who had been selected for the combined fleet and become a captain due to his excellent performance in the exploration team, couldn't help but feel resentment. At that time, some of the alternate world fleets in the Two-World Star River were not backward, and some were even very advanced. During their assault on the combined fleet's position, those advanced warships were not destroyed immediately and launched their own attacks. However, most of those powerful light cannon beams were deflected by gravitational field shields, with only a small portion accurately hitting their targets.
The escort ship Krelle was on had the worst luck. While he was directing his crew to raise the shield to block a high-explosive magical explosive shell, another Aetheric impact warhead, deflected too far by the gravitational shield, happened to arc and hit the escort ship's broadside. Good grief, Krelle still remembered the feeling at that moment. It felt like being trampled back and forth by a herd of Wild Boar Kings, a dozen times in an instant. And his physical body, along with the disintegration of the escort ship, was completely turned into a pulp.
Although he was dead, Krelle was not afraid.
The confidence to remain calm in the face of death came from the Soul Abyss Sphere enveloping his soul.
—A creation of the Radcliffe Family that benefits the entire world, reverently called the 'Sacred Artifact that Blocks the Grim Reaper' by the common people. It can store souls completely for a long time, then reshape a body based on the soul's and original body's bloodline information, allowing the dead to be resurrected—a supreme technology.
"Since our numbers are small, and we cannot compare to those Void civilizations that have developed for thousands or tens of thousands of years, our most important issue is that we cannot afford to lose people, we cannot accept sacrifices."
Krelle remembered the words spoken by Lord Count Radcliffe during his speech when he became the Grand Marshal of the Combined Fleet. The black-haired warrior's tone was calm, but his words were earth-shattering: "Therefore, our army will refuse to accept casualties, refuse compensation. And I absolutely cannot retreat. We must overcome death, overcome fear. From now on, you—everyone here—will temporarily be removed from the threat of death. The price is becoming our iron-blooded war machine."
"No matter how terrifying the danger, we must not take a single step back. What is destroyed in the flames shall surely return from the flames."
He did it. The soul-binding of the Soul Abyss Sphere gave all soldiers of the expeditionary force an absolute guarantee of life. Unless a Legendary-rank existence intervened and directly obliterated the Soul Abyss Sphere itself, even if their physical bodies were destroyed, their souls would have a chance to wait for rebirth. And, on the other hand, if one was truly unlucky enough to be targeted by an alternate world's Legendary, then dying was indeed an act of God. Those who encountered it could only lament their bad luck and might as well go all out before dying.
Krelle knew Joshua's philosophy. He also knew that the first thing the entire expedition fleet did upon arriving in an alternate world was to build a Space-Time Hub, and the second was to construct a seemingly ordinary building beside the hub, which was actually a 'Resurrection Center' like a fountain. By throwing a Soul Abyss Sphere containing a stored soul into that fountain filled with Life Energy, after a dozen or so seconds, a complete person would emerge from it, resurrected once more.
Not only that, in fact, every time the Combined Fleet built a Void base, they would lay down the most basic Restorative Pillar and resurrection system in the local world. Once the Star Gate was opened, the Exchange System, which had unified the entire world, completely replaced money as the currency for transactions among the expeditionary soldiers. Everyone could exchange various goods and services at the nearest base using exchange points. The terminals for these services were shining silver light orbs and focuses. Although they looked ordinary, they were practically omnipotent, from resurrection and exchanging bloodlines or body modifications, to healing injuries and enhancing physical fitness—everything imaginable was available.
Of course, such resurrection was not without cost. According to official statements, each person only had three chances to be resurrected. Beyond three times, an ordinary person's soul would suffer excessive wear and tear. At best, they would lose memories; at worst, their soul would shatter. In between, they might become a vegetable, sleeping for who knows how long before waking up.
Those who died more than three times would leave the front lines and move to logistics. Krelle knew he had already lost one chance. The lesson of death made him vow to be more careful next time. At that moment, he was thinking about how to return to the front lines after being resurrected at the camp to achieve merit, so he didn't seriously consider how long he had been floating in the Void.
So the young captain did not know that the Soul Abyss Sphere containing his soul had been swept up by the blast wave and drifted into the Void outside the Origin Star River.
A lonely silver metal sphere drifted in the empty Void. If this extremely tiny object went undiscovered, it could drift in this silent Void until the end of eternity. However, the soul preservation capability of the Soul Abyss Sphere was not eternal. Once activated, the sphere would consume its internal stored energy to preserve the soul for thirty-one days. Beyond thirty-one days, the sphere's own structure would collapse, and the soul within would dissipate.
Much time had passed. At the moment when the Knowledge Seizer had withdrawn and the Combined Fleet had also pulled back, the entire Two-World Star River was empty. However, from the Combined Fleet's temporary base, a reconnaissance ship searching for Krelle had been dispatched. A team of professionals was reconstructing the battlefield situation at the time, calculating the trajectory of Krelle's Soul Abyss Sphere.
Barring any accidents, in about ten days, Krelle's Soul Abyss Sphere would be found by the reconnaissance ship, and he would just have a scare before safely resurrecting in the fountain.
But in this Multiverse Star River, the biggest accident was when no accident happened.
In the silent Void, from the seemingly formless darkness, a curled tentacle suddenly emerged from concealment, extending. It gently wrapped around the silver sphere drifting in the Void.
It could be seen that the original body connected to this tentacle was a colossal, translucent bio-warship with an alien beauty. Its sides were covered with dense, jellyfish-like tentacles, its keen magical pulse searching for information on all collectible things in the vicinity.
And so, in this silent Void, it found Krelle's Soul Abyss Sphere.
Then, the tentacle retracted back into the formless shadows.
Meanwhile, at the Combined Fleet Headquarters.
A diplomatic team composed of eight Legendary experts was preparing to depart for the exchange world agreed upon with the Knowledge Seizer.
As the core director of this exchange team, the warrior was in the private room of his flagship, conversing with his weapons, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
"Is that so? You've completed your mission? Well done!"
Joshua patted Ying and Lin on the shoulders approvingly. He knew his weapons would not disappoint his expectations. Although they could no longer follow him into battle as he had grown too powerful, weapons always had their uses.
"Hehe, of course!" "We did alright!"
Hearing their master's praise, Ying and Lin, who finally felt they could do something for Joshua, were filled with a sense of accomplishment. However, this time they had specifically traveled through the Star Gate tunnel not just to report on their work.
"Master, the space-time pressure of the Genesis Maelstrom has been increasing significantly. According to Miss No. 3's calculations, in about three months, its space-time pressure will grow to an unimaginable level."
After the silver-haired girl finished speaking, the black-haired boy continued: "Even though your original body has grown much stronger, it probably won't be able to withstand that level of space-time pressure. It has reached its limit. That's why we specifically traveled through the Star Gate to find you and report this news."
"...I see. It seems the rapid growth of my original body has also reached its limit."
Hearing this news, Joshua raised his eyebrows slightly. He was not surprised by the significant increase in space-time pressure. In fact, he was somewhat amazed that his original body had been able to withstand the pressure of the Genesis Maelstrom for so long. It seemed that the divine power capture array set up by the Six Gods back then had indeed had an extraordinary amplifying effect on his strength. The warrior did not ponder this for long. After a quick calculation, he made a decisive decision.
"In that case, Ying, Lin."
Standing up from his seat, Joshua raised his hand and brought up a light screen in front of him, displaying a star chart of most of the Origin Star River. He searched for a relatively empty area of worlds within the Origin Star River and then spoke in a low voice: "After you return, notify the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground's Dominant Will. Ask it and Master Nostradamus to prepare."
"It is indeed time to teleport my original body to the Multiverse Star River."