Chapter 80: Emotional Spectrum
The Amos Royal Court and the Takur Annihilation Order were both high-level Grade 4 civilizations located within the same World Star River. Due to their civilizational traits and a series of historical developments, from the very early stages of their encounter, when neither civilization was particularly advanced, they had already launched a comprehensive 'extermination war' against each other. Both sides had numerous colonies systematically cleansed and destroyed by the other, to the point where, even now, there was no room for compromise between their common citizens.
Back then, neither Emperor Amos nor the first High Patriarch of the Takur Order had grown to their current level, and their Void Warships had traded victories and defeats. As these two void civilizations struggled against each other, the other low and mid-level civilizations within this World Star River were gradually driven out, eliminated, or even exterminated. Until finally, the entire Star River was left with only these two monsters, known as 'Calamity Civilizations', and the name 'Bloody Star River' spread throughout the Multiverse Star River.
There was no clear reason for war, nor any cause for hostility. The original doctrines of the Annihilation Order were not as extreme as they are now, nor were the ideologies of the Bloody Royal Court as malicious. But perhaps the Amos people and the Takur people were simply destined to clash. Their war began with the most primitive first-generation Void Warships, bombarding each other with basic light-energy magic crystal cannons at distances of less than half a light-second. Millennia later, super void fortresses as vast as continents and divine energy avatars as brilliant as stars still tangled endlessly across star domains. Just as no one knows when this war began, no one knows when it will end.
However, in the last three hundred years, the full-scale hot war between the Amos Royal Court and the Annihilation Order began to cool down. It seemed that both sides had bled too much. To avoid being taken advantage of by powerful civilizations from other Star Rivers, both sides temporarily ceased fire, refraining from high-intensity direct confrontation. Their battles shifted to harassment and infiltration sabotage around their respective frontline fortresses, as well as 'cold war' tactics like arms races and resource monopolies. The main body of Emperor Amos and the current High Patriarch of the Order stood in distant confrontation. As Star River-level Transcendent beings capable of decisively suppressing ordinary Grade 4 civilizations with their own power, neither would act rashly, giving the other an opening.
Of course, the previous encounter with the Mycroft Civilization was an exception. First, both sides had only sent avatars, not their true bodies. At that time, their intentions were not to genuinely block the Mycroft Civilization from settling in this Multiverse Star River, but rather to use the power of the Mycroft Civilization's experts to weaken the other, causing them to fall out with the Mycroft Civilization.
After all, the Multiverse Star River is vast. There would be plenty of time and space for battle in the future; there was no need to rush. Solving the immediate familiar enemy was more important.
Joshua naturally knew about the bloody war history between the Amos Royal Court and the Annihilation Order. He certainly wouldn't comment on two naturally xenophobic civilizations, both suffering from a fear of alien races, beating each other's brains out. But what the God of Life said was indeed strange.
"The Amos Royal Court is in trouble? It seems they've probably encountered a wandering Evil God."
The warrior speculated on the possible situation. The existence of Evil Gods in the Multiverse Star River was self-evident. Both the Star Shepherd and the Knowledge Seizer proved this. An unknown number of Evil Gods roamed the Multiverse Star River, attacking civilizations like wandering nightmares.
However, these Evil Gods weren't particularly strong. Most ordinary Grade 4 civilizations could repel them, and weaker Evil Gods could even be severely wounded or killed.
As for strong Grade 3 civilizations, they could at least defend themselves against slightly weaker Evil Gods; repelling their invasion wasn't a fantasy.
But even so, no matter how powerful a civilization, encountering an Evil God was never a good thing. If the Amos Royal Court had indeed summoned a related Evil God due to their long years of bloody war, they would certainly be in trouble. And at such a time, don't expect the Takur Order to stand idly by. They would be happy to join forces with the Evil God to pincer the Amos Royal Court, inflicting heavy damage. The hatred between the two sides far surpassed the natural disgust and fear that orderly civilizations have for Chaos.
But the problem was, the Takur Annihilation Order didn't do that.
This was very puzzling.
"Speaking of which, you really are excessively strong."
After finishing the big news, the God of Life still hadn't stopped sizing up Joshua. He stared at the warrior, couldn't help shaking his head, and sighed, "Unbelievable. How can you be so strong? In just a dozen years, you've caught up to us?"
"I had a system back then—probably given by the Sage. Anyway, I'm indeed different from ordinary people."
To this, Joshua told the truth, but it didn't seem to bother the God of Life. After all, the fact that Joshua came from another mysterious world in his previous life was common knowledge in high-level circles. However, even so, the warrior noticed that when the God of Life heard the word 'Sage', his gaze flickered slightly.
The relationship between the Seven Gods and the Sage is indeed subtle and complicated.
"Let's not talk about that. So, regarding this strange event in the Bloody Star River, you want me to investigate? To see what's really going on?"
Changing the subject, Joshua frowned slightly, looking at the God of Life with some confusion. The God of Life looked up and nodded seriously: "Indeed, Joshua. This is a task that only you can accomplish."
"I accept. When do I leave?"
The warrior was naturally noncommittal. In his view, the old Pope and the Seven Gods could easily handle this reconnaissance mission; it was by no means 'only he could do it'. Joshua was self-aware. He might have maxed out his skill points in direct confrontation, but in infiltration and reconnaissance, he had probably only invested in 'opening his eyes to look'. Rather than sneaking around, peeping, and figuring out the truth, he was more accustomed to fighting his way through and getting information from prisoners.
Of course, there was no need to refuse.
"No rush. Even waiting half a year is fine. The Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground is preparing for positioning. Then, the Dominant Will will teleport you to the edge of the Bloody Star River, saving a lot of time. After all, we're just taking a look, not going to solve the problem."
The God of Life had already turned around, preparing to summon his clergy and Heroic Spirits to study the Phoenix Void Behemoth imprisoned in the star behind him. Before the deity began his work, he prompted, "Actually, it doesn't matter what trouble the Amos Royal Court and the Takur Annihilation Order have run into. Your task is just to confirm whether the trouble they've encountered is an Evil God, and if so, what kind of Evil God... After all, 'that thing' still needs your main body to be modulated and built. Everything else comes second to 'that thing'. As for other tasks, do as you please."
To this, Joshua said nothing.
He stood in the void, watching the deity and a group of clergy blessed with divine power fly towards the sun where the Phoenix Void Behemoth was located.
The God of Life's work was very busy. He needed to analyze and confirm all new life forms in the Multiverse Star River that the Mycroft Civilization had not previously recorded, and enter them into the Unified Grand Database. If a new species was exceptionally powerful and special, like this super Void Behemoth juvenile, it required days of overtime for a thorough analysis, searching for anything worth learning.
Even the God of Life, praised by the previous God of Might as a 'genius' and 'powerful', was so diligently busy in the new Multiverse Star River to learn and become stronger. Naturally, other deities and Legendary experts wouldn't stop either. The vast new environments, new knowledge, new Transcendent power systems, and numerous different races and civilizations brought by the Multiverse Star River were like the best fertilizer for a civilization in its development phase. By absorbing the Unified Grand Database, the Knowledge Seizer's database, and knowledge systems traded from many new civilizations, the Mycroft Civilization of the Era of Falling Stars was growing at an astonishing speed.
Of course, growth was growth, and Legendary experts recharging was recharging. But the crucial 'population' problem for the Mycroft Civilization wasn't so easy to solve. A population of over two billion was far, far too small for the current scale of the Mycroft Civilization, to the point where even the Legendary experts found it a headache.
Regarding this huge problem, the Nature Mentor stated that she wanted to recreate the legend. Joining forces with the Fairy Empress, she planned to directly 'grow' new 'Tree-born Fairies' from the 'Mother Tree of Life', using a 'fruiting' method to rapidly increase the Fairy population. She could really do such a thing. If it weren't for the ethics of the Elf Clan, and the fact that the produced population would still need a long time to grow and couldn't immediately solve the current predicament, the Nature Mentor, who was almost driven mad by the manpower shortage, would really do it, turning the joke 'you fell from a tree' into reality.
Similarly, the Church of the Seven Gods, together with the Sky-Piercing White Tower and the Imperial Royal Mage Association, were researching 'High-Intelligence Artificial Soul Puppets'. Among them, Number 3 and Lotram (the Nameless Technician) were core members. One was a model of a powerful artificial intelligent soul, the other a master of soul machinery. These parties joined forces, planning to directly create intelligent artificial intelligences to replace human workers. This would not only avoid ethical issues but also the problem of growth time. The only thing that needed careful vigilance was whether the artificial intelligences, upon gaining intelligence, would peacefully obey and cooperate.
Although artificial intelligence rebellion was just a speculation, and artificial souls and artificial intelligences were not the same type of creation, 'manufactured life' and 'naturally born life', even if identical in essence, would both default to considering the other as 'not the same kind'.
There were many ideas, but few were practical. Whether it was Baniel's 'Elemental Servants' or the Dwarf's 'Fully Automatic War Machines', they were all similar to High-Intelligence Artificial Soul Puppets. One was about granting true intelligence to Elemental Servants, the other about manufacturing automated combat machinery that even an ordinary person could safely operate, ranging from Mana Armor to Void Warships. The only relatively novel idea was the Fishman High Priest Godar's 'Biological Evolution Theory'. According to his idea, it was to modify all humans, elves, dwarves, fishmen, and other races, turning all creatures into breeding machines producing two litters a year, starting with four per litter. This way, in a few years, the Mycroft Civilization would never have to worry about labor.
And don't accuse the Fishman High Priest of discriminating against women. In fact, according to his idea, it was to completely erase the concept of male and female, making all Mycroft creatures single-sex reproducing, capable of being in heat freely all year round. The offspring could grow up in a few years, possessing a certain degree of intelligence. If anything, Godar was probably a true supporter of gender equality.
In reality, the Fishmen were an example. They had almost been modified to this state. This was why, after the great decisive battle on the Eastern Plains and the Holy Mountain back then, the Fishmen, who should have been nearly extinct, managed to survive and even carve out a place in the void. This was all thanks to the subtle modifications by successive Fishman High Priests over generations, making the Fishmen such a resilient race.
Recently, the Fishman High Priest had even gained inspiration from the Zhi people. He was preparing to use a part of his own flesh and blood as a template to cultivate super lifeforms born from spores. They would reproduce endlessly, be strong and robust, grow quickly, and could even master knowledge through bloodline rather than 'learning'. According to the Fishman High Priest's vision, even if such creatures were torn apart, it wouldn't matter, because his flesh and blood were essentially reproductive spores. As long as there was biomass around, or even a certain level of Transcendent power, they would multiply in number the more they were attacked. They could be described as the perfect weapon of war.
Too crazy.
Undoubtedly, all these chaotic and crazy plans were sealed and suspended. All overly dangerous and extreme research was halted, lest the population crisis be solved only for humanity to be wiped out by other messy technologies first.
Humanity never shows mercy when it comes to messing with itself, and is exceptionally successful at it. This was what Nostradamus complained to Joshua about during their last gathering. The method the Space-Time Legendary Mage favored was the 'Soul Splitting Art' created by the Psychic Overlord William. Although it was called 'soul splitting', it had nothing to do with the soul. This art involved splitting a person's consciousness, allowing them to think and do two things at once, like two people. Through practice, the number of splits could increase, such as three, four, or even five or six.
Naturally, the split consciousnesses could be recombined into a whole at any time. This way, one person could be used as multiple people. The effective number of the two billion citizens would immediately double, and could continue to increase with deeper practice.
But honestly, Joshua still found it crazy. These Legendary experts, once they let their imaginations run wild, had no restraints. He even somewhat understood why Transcendent civilizations were either trapped in feudal eras or died young. If the leaders of a civilization were all types with such powerful thinking and action capabilities, the civilization would either rapidly advance upwards or plummet straight down into the abyss.
Thinking many things, Joshua didn't stay long in this sealed world. While the God of Life and his clergy studied the Phoenix Void Behemoth, he dispersed his avatar and returned his consciousness to his main body.
In the silver world, the crystal obelisk shone with light.
And the warrior's will turned into a star, illuminating all beings.
— Neither the trouble the Amos people had encountered, nor the population crisis of the Mycroft Civilization, was the most important thing for Joshua now. Even 'that thing' the God of Life mentioned wasn't what the warrior valued most.
In fact, at this moment, Joshua was recalling the electromagnetic signal filled with 'curse' and 'hatred' that the expert from the Lund Civilization had finally emitted a few days ago.
In the Soul Abyss, countless soul fragments of hatred and malice drifted in the pitch-black abyssal sea. Most of these soul fragments and curses had long decayed and dissipated into nothingness. But stimulated by the recent addition of the Lund people's resentment, the Soul Abyss was now quite active. A deep red curse and resentment could be seen riding a nearly materialized stream of light, stirring up storms and waves in the Soul Abyss.
But a hand reached out and grabbed this inherently formless and intangible light.
In the dark Soul Abyss, Joshua, projecting himself, frowned deeply. His soul body emitted a pure, colorless, blazing white radiance, illuminating almost the entire dark Soul Abyss. Under this light, the various soul fragments and curses, which originally appeared completely black, all manifested their true colors.
Red 'Anger', green 'Malice', blue 'Apathy', purple 'Jealousy', gold 'Greed'... and black 'Curse'. The emotional spectrum was fully revealed under the illumination of Joshua's pure soul light.
Joshua tightly gripped the nearly materialized 'Resentment and Curse' in his hand, staring at the 'Deep Red and Black' within. The warrior savored this exceptionally strange power hidden within the soul and electric current, then couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
"Maybe... it's an illusion, but I've had this speculation for a long time."
"Could it be... that emotion... is also a kind of power?"