Chapter 83: Chaos Meme
A mountain-like mass of solidified chaos, sealed within a semi-transparent crystal obelisk far larger than any mountain, exuded a dark and profound aura, dimming the light of the surrounding forest of crystal obelisks.
Chaos, like order, is infectious, self-replicating, and highly corrosive. The malicious chaos from the Evil Gods was even more so. Even though Joshua had long since annihilated their activity, shattered their condensation cores, preventing these malicious chaos from growing into new Evil Gods, their corrosive nature could still wreak havoc within the world of a God of Steel.
It could be seen that the area around the giant crystal obelisk had become a forbidden zone for the Silver Fairies. These kinfolk of Joshua possessed high authority within the silver world. They were like the world's white blood cells, capable to a certain extent of mobilizing the warrior's power to repair the erosion caused by chaos, and could also attack and destroy some minor malicious chaos. Under the right conditions, all of them could even unleash Gold High-rank level Order Light for purification operations.
But even the Silver Fairies, protected by Joshua, dared not approach the vicinity of this 'final condensation of chaos' within the silver world. Its danger level was thus evident. Joshua even saw a few Silver Fairies that had turned black, lying unconscious on the ground near the obelisk, like bees killed by mosquito-repellent incense. They were presumably the ones left behind from previous failed purification attempts.
It could be seen that some of these Silver Fairies had eyes that had become large X shapes, while others had become spinning whirlpools... Such was the nature of elemental life.
"..."
Without a word, Joshua raised his hand and tossed the few eroded Silver Fairies away. The other Silver Fairies cheered and praised the name of their Lord Joshua. They would naturally throw these eroded kin into the purification pool for a wash. After doing this, the warrior arrived at the base of the obelisk, the location of the giant chaos condensation, the last black stain in the silver world.
For years, billions of players, cooperating with Joshua's flushing and purification, had failed to destroy this condensation. The reason wasn't as complicated as everyone thought. The answer was simple: when the game presented the problems encountered by the related civilizations within this chaos memory, no player could solve them and officially clear the level.
All the chaos memories formed by civilizations destroyed by this problem showed no signs of purification to this day.
Joshua had come here to solve this problem.
So, the warrior reached out and touched the base of the obelisk.
The moment Joshua touched the obelisk, he sensed an abnormally powerful suction force acting on his mind, trying to pull him into a dream-like chaos memory. In the past, Joshua would have been pulled in at this point, attempting to solve the problem the chaos memory once faced within the illusion, thereby destroying and purifying it from the inside. This was also the most standard purification process for chaos memories. Even the game 'Continent of Strife' operated on this principle, pulling players into a safe game scenario resembling a chaos illusion to experience and solve problems.
However, the awkward part was that for this to work, the volume of the chaos memory needed to be roughly equivalent to the person being pulled in.
Obviously, comparing Joshua's current volume to a chaos condensation a few thousand meters high, it was clear which was larger.
This was Joshua van Radcliffe, the true body of a transcendent powerhouse surpassing stellar-level. This chaos memory wasn't the world-star-river-level Death Evil God from before, but merely one of its most stubborn residual stains. So, conversely, the chaos memory was pulled into Joshua's mind, where the warrior carefully observed, analyzed, and dissected its essence.
"...Change and Conservatism. I see. Two chaos cores capable of condensing into Evil Gods."
By purely suppressing it with energy level, Joshua easily obtained the corresponding civilization memories from the chaos and identified the essential problems hidden within.
This time, from the chaos clot, he discovered 'Change' and 'Conservatism'. These two powerful chaos essences had caused the destruction and extinction of multiple civilizations. If not suppressed by him, they would likely have gradually grown into two Evil Gods in the outside world.
Of course, calling them two, they were actually intertwined, nearly inseparable, making the situation many times more complex than if they were separate. No wonder the players couldn't easily solve this problem.
Joshua's mind delved deep into analyzing this chaos. Soon, he received countless flickering memory fragments. Without exception, these fragments were segments of civilizations destroyed by 'Change and Conservatism'.
— An original high-energy world. Multiple races worshipped multiple primitive gods. These primitive gods were born with a portion of Fire Force, possessing immense power and enjoying the sacrifices of various races. Such a primitive faith world would typically, over time, become a polytheistic theocracy, or might remain in a primitive social state for tens of thousands of years, perhaps never changing.
But one day, a priest of a god discovered that the divine power of the primitive gods could be seized. So, this priest spent a long time, step by step, seizing the power of the god he served, becoming a new god. This naturally shocked countless other priests and stirred thoughts unlike any before. Naturally, the primitive gods were enraged in panic. They waged war against the new god and the many treacherous priests. This primitive high-energy world was thus destroyed in a civil war among the gods.
— A world with almost no supernatural power. An intelligent race with two sexes developed into the industrial age. The males held an advantage in physical strength, dominating for thousands of years of evolution. The females were largely appendages in previous eras, with low status. Even with recent improvements, they still faced much discrimination.
However, due to industrialization, the differences between males and females narrowed. Factories didn't treat them differently. In their respective positions, the resources produced by both sides were similar. So, with industrialization, the status of females gradually rose. Their lifestyles and clothing differed greatly from the era of male dominance. Some females even achieved economic independence through work, no longer needing to defer to males. This naturally led to a strong backlash from stubborn conservatives. Some male supremacists refused to accept changes in female rights, calling for society to return to the past, refusing to let females appear in public or work in factories.
This was naturally contrary to social progress. To protect their rights, females fought back against the male supremacists without hesitation. But the conflict didn't subside with the passage of time; it intensified. Eventually, the two sexes within the race viewed each other as enemies, enslaving parts of the other as breeding tools. Due to the race's peculiar physical characteristics, males and females even transformed themselves into two completely different independent races, each capable of reproduction... Their end came in a global racial war that destroyed each other.
— A world originally without magic, but which gradually developed supernatural power due to various reasons. Civilization reached a medieval level. Awakeners, who naturally awakened supernatural power, appeared sporadically in areas rich in supernatural energy. This should have been a good thing, a civilization gradually developing supernatural power. But due to cultural reasons, all natural awakeners were seen as monsters, hunted by vigilante groups composed of ordinary people.
Due to individual differences, jealousy, and fear of the unknown, ordinary people continuously hunted awakeners. Without inheritance, naturally awakened individuals had few means of defense before they grew strong, only able to flee into deep mountains and forests under their parents' protection. As the storm intensified, the conflict between awakeners and ordinary people escalated. To nip any potential awakeners in the bud, the vigilante groups would even indiscriminately kill innocent ordinary people. Those who sheltered awakeners, if discovered, were tortured to death.
The parents of one awakener were discovered sheltering him. After sending their son into the deep mountains, they were burned alive by the vigilante group. Witnessing this, the awakener cursed everyone, everything. He cursed the world. Intense hatred fueled his supernatural power, making it stronger. Before his death, this curse combined with the souls of countless murdered awakeners, transforming into a supernatural plague that destroyed all life. It lodged itself in a common flu virus and began to spread worldwide... The super Black Death killed all intelligent life. Civilization was declared extinct.
...
...
Joshua quickly browsed through these memories of destroyed civilizations. The more he saw, the tighter his brow furrowed.
"This problem is somewhat unsolvable... The alternation and struggle between the new and the old is essentially part of the development of orderly civilization... No one can claim they can solve it one hundred percent."
Change and Conservatism are essentially the processes of self-struggle, progress, and regression within order. While they can bring progress, they can also bring regression and destruction. This self-destructive factor, guided by the Death Evil God, had transformed into a powerful chaos essence. If not for Joshua's suppression, once this chaos power reached the outside world and destroyed a civilization, it would inevitably grow into a new Evil God.
Joshua certainly couldn't solve this problem. After all, the Mycroft people still harbored some resistance to physical modification and were very cautious about the newly developed various battle qi cultivation techniques.
This wasn't surprising. Behind the reform representing 'innovation' and 'progress' lurked the shadows of 'madness' and 'blindness'. And behind the conservatism seemingly representing 'ignorance' and 'stubbornness' also lay the positive meanings of 'caution' and 'responsibility'.
As if sensing the scenes of reform and conservatism within Mycroft civilization in Joshua's mind, the chaos memory, originally sealed in the crystal obelisk like solidified rock, began to boil. The malicious chaos transformed into a rotating vortex, releasing a dim light. At the same time, the Silver Fairies watching from a distance, full of anticipation to see how their Lord would purify the chaos, suddenly felt the world spin. They fell like bees stunned by smoke, raining down.
They felt their minds shaken. Various colorful, intensely nauseating colors filled their minds. The sky and earth around them alternated in shaking, like a kaleidoscope being flipped back and forth. An inexplicable force, through the connection of 'seeing', began to invade the simple, pure minds of the Silver Fairies, attempting to plant seeds.
But soon, this dizzying mental invasion ended.
When the Silver Fairies opened their eyes again, they saw the mountain-like crystal obelisk collapse. The boiling chaos condensation, once sealed within, was compressed by the warrior until it was only the size of a fist.
Among the dense forest of crystal obelisks, the largest sealed obelisk silently collapsed. The semi-transparent crystal forming its shell shattered and decomposed in mid-air, turning into a vast mist of light. Rows upon rows of profound and complex runes derived within the mist. Countless silver patterns spread out from the warrior's avatar. A vast Steel Force surged, suppressing the chaos while condensing light particles like falling snow in the air.
Joshua stood on the ground. Though he appeared to be the size of an ordinary human, his presence felt larger than the world. He stared at the black chaos essence, compressed to the size of a fist in his hand, and shook his head.
"Sorry, I can't solve your problems."
In the ears of the Silver Fairies, Joshua's slightly apologetic muttering came: "So I'll just have to solve you."
*Crack.*
The chaos memory that had plagued billions of players in 'Continent of Strife' for years was thus crushed by brute force. Sometimes, brute force can't find the answer to a problem, but it can solve the problem itself. Like reform, whether reformist or conservative, if one holds absolute power, then whether blind madness or stubborn ignorance, there is a chance for correction, a possibility of returning to the right path. Even a wrong path, supported by absolute power, might yield a decent future.
This, too, was a kind of answer.
It could be seen that the moment the black chaos clot was completely crushed, countless chaos forces burst forth. The power of malicious chaos writhed around it like a living thing, trying to invade Joshua's body.
Joshua didn't resist. He closed his eyes, allowing this chaos power to invade his avatar, experiencing this 'supernatural power' beyond ordinary comprehension.
Like mana, elements, ether, life energy, holy light, and other supernatural powers... the special supernatural power unique to Evil Gods and chaos kinfolk, 'malicious chaos', was also a special kind of supernatural power.
"Unable to understand—perhaps it's just that my realm isn't high enough. I haven't broken through 'that barrier' at the Legendary realm."
Opening his eyes, Joshua's expression was somewhat disappointed, but he quickly cheered up: "But it's not without gain."
Joshua's sudden visit to clean up his own world wasn't just to solve internal hygiene issues. The warrior didn't actually care much about the chaos problem; he was merely verifying his conjecture.
— Chaos essence, or in other words, Chaos Meme.
A power similar to psychic bugs, which infects, spreads, and detects through the transmission of information!
At this moment, Joshua had roughly figured out how the Evil Gods induced chaos chains, and how they locked onto and invaded through the 'number of intelligent beings aware of their existence'. Just like before, when the dormant chaos essence representing 'Change and Conservatism' immediately activated upon Joshua's thought of 'Mycroft civilization's reform and conservatism'. The warrior could be certain that the Evil Gods accurately located their target civilizations for invasion and destruction by detecting 'memes' similar to themselves.
The Calamity Evil God attacked the Ilgena world, which was suffering calamities. The Plenty Evil God attacked the Mycroft world at its peak. These were clear examples. Joshua believed that some Evil Gods even existed in a nearly non-existent dormant state, only awakening to attack when they sensed a matching meme.
At the moment of a civilization's destruction, malicious chaos would extract a chaos essence, a chaos meme, as a core, sealing all the civilization's information and memories into one entity. In a sense, this was a natural phenomenon. Just as holy light naturally purifies everything, malicious chaos, as a supernatural power, naturally produces Evil Gods. This was like mana and other supernatural powers: 'a changed universal pervasive cognition'.
"Indeed, Evil Gods are, to a certain extent, meme beings."
A dazzling silver light emanated from Joshua, purifying all nearby malicious chaos one by one, transforming them into silver orbs like stars, rotating around him. The warrior's gaze was deep. A hint of deep red light could be seen shining in the depths of his eyes.
"Similarly, Gods are the same."