Chapter 89: The Possibility of an Artificial Steel Serpent
The delicate balancing of the etheric currents within the world had been completed. With his mind clear and focused, Joshua's work had temporarily come to an end.
The template and construction plan for the Ether Ring World had been confirmed. Once the Seven Gods finished modulating the world and determined the corresponding parameters, Joshua could directly fill it with matter and create—normally, this wouldn't be a difficult task. However, due to the recent emergence of the new transcendent power known as "Shadow," the Seven Gods, who knew little about transcendent powers, could only proceed slowly, experimenting to understand the essence of this new force.
For the time being, Joshua and Nostradamus had nothing to do. The two left this hidden artificial world and headed back toward the Jetram Star Domain.
"By now, those civilization representatives should also know that the Evil Gods are about to invade and that the 'Great Extinction' is coming."
To avoid leaving behind spatial-temporal residual coordinates that might expose the Ether World's location, Joshua and Nostradamus had to take a long detour. Midway, the old mage seemed to think of something and spoke with a somewhat helpless tone: "Memes... we've hidden the existence of the Evil Gods for millennia because of this peculiar perception ability. But now, we can't afford to care about perception anymore. Since the Evil God cluster is coming in a few decades, starting to spread this knowledge now and letting all other civilizations know certainly can't be a bad thing."
"Indeed. Being prepared is always better than being caught off guard."
Joshua nodded, agreeing with Nostradamus's words. He added, "Since the enemy is coming anyway, setting off a firework to expose ourselves won't cost us anything—those who can shield themselves from meme perception naturally don't need to fear, as long as they don't make mistakes, the Evil Gods won't perceive them either. And those who can't shield themselves don't need to fear either; in the end, a battle is inevitable. Do the Evil Gods really let them off just because they're ignorant?"
Not to mention the Evil Gods, even the civilizations themselves probably wouldn't believe that. Although the legend of the World Devourer was like a myth, its existence was something no civilization would deny. It was just that the Multiverse Star River was far too vast, and no one believed it would come to their doorstep.
So this time, the main purpose of the Mycroft Unity Assembly was to popularize some originally top-secret information to the many civilizations of this Multiverse Star River, letting them know that the civilizations beside them were not their eternal enemies, but merely competitors in temporary conflicts of interest. Only the Evil Gods were truly hostile to order.
Whether they believed, understood, or were willing to cooperate—the Mycroft Civilization didn't care at all. But if there were civilizations willing to believe, understand, and cooperate, Mycroft naturally wouldn't hoard its knowledge but would cooperate wholeheartedly—faced with an impending massive threat, no civilization would sit idly by. Since they couldn't fight alone for now, calling on allies and partners was also a choice.
"Speaking of which, Master Nostradamus."
After teleporting, jumping, and taking a huge detour, finally returning to the path line, Joshua, midway back to the Jetram Star Domain, suddenly spoke for some reason: "Do you know about 'Xiao Guang'?"
"Of course I do."
For a moment, Nostradamus didn't understand why Joshua was asking this question, but he still narrowed his eyes and replied in a low voice: "The World Will of the Bloodmoon Abyss... a very good example of world rebirth. I remember when I went to visit back then, that world already had a huge blood-colored banyan tree and many strange, fluffy little animals living there."
—In other words, it's another strange creature you've raised... Come to think of it, how many non-human beings has Joshua raised? What are his hobbies...
No matter how strong Joshua was, he couldn't read a legendary mage's mind out of thin air. So after hearing Nostradamus's response, he nodded and said, "I mentioned this to you last time. I don't know if you remember—a few years ago, when the Continent of Strife first appeared, Xiao Guang used a game bug to successfully artificially create a 'World Will,' also known as a 'Steel Serpent.'"
"You did say that."
Regarding this, the old mage's expression was quite calm. He spoke as if it were nothing unusual: "After all, she's a World Will you raised. She was born one; what's strange about her cultivating a kindred spirit? Besides, the fact that the Soul Cycle can give birth to a world's self-awareness is common sense, isn't it? Only those who don't know would find it strange."
"Not a World Will. To be precise, it's the Will of All Things."
Joshua corrected Nostradamus's misuse of terms: "The Steel Serpent is the Will of All Things, everything within the world, but not the world itself—this is also a common misconception. Some powerful Steel Serpents might be able to control the world, but that's not because they are the World Will, but because they are powerful enough."
Joshua didn't delve into this topic. He simply summarized it briefly, then continued along the previous thread: "Back then, in the Continent of Strife, Xiao Guang made the race she cultivated become the entirety of the world. So, the Soul Cycle of the entire world became equivalent to the Soul Cycle of a single race. And the Will of All Things born from this Soul Cycle was, in essence, the will of a single race... Honestly, this is a very interesting and peculiar exception."
"...So, the Race Will and the Will of All Things are actually one and the same... Interesting, a collective mind hidden behind a single race."
Hearing this, Nostradamus frowned slightly. He vaguely felt that there was indeed something worth paying attention to in this area, but he had no inspiration... The old mage looked at Joshua, waiting for him to state his conclusion. But to Nostradamus's disappointment, the warrior didn't continue along this line but changed the subject.
However, this new topic was even more shocking than what Nostradamus had been thinking.
"I've discovered that Steel Serpents can also be artificially created."
Ignoring Nostradamus's increasingly alarmed expression, Joshua sped through the void, but his tone remained very calm: "What Xiao Guang created was just an accident. For a natural occurrence, it would probably take at least tens of millions of years... But it doesn't actually need that long. Souls aren't as precious as imagined. You just need to mass-produce creatures with souls but extremely short lifespans—for example, intelligent insects, bacteria with a hive mind, or algae, grass, plants, and so on. As long as these things generate souls, artificially spawning a Steel Serpent in a short time is feasible."
"Not only that... Some time ago, Loranda and the Demon Lord of Seduction discovered a peculiar world in a powerful abyss of the Multiverse Star River. That world had experienced multiple destructions and rebirths. Its first rebirth occurred when a powerful Void Behemoth-level creature fell there, and its soul split apart, transforming into a new Soul Cycle."
What could this prove?
This could prove that a Steel Serpent could not only be artificially created but could even evolve from the soul of a single powerful lifeform!
"This proves too many things. For example, the mysterious World Will is actually not so mysterious after all."