Chapter 21: The Source of the Great Magic Tide
When Joshua opened his eyes, he had already arrived in the void outside the Starry World.
The Starry World was a special world of the super-large world level. In theory, it should have grown endlessly over time, like an infinite single universe—indeed, because it constantly absorbed mass from the external Star River, if the First Flame had not shown signs of abnormality, it might have become another kind of 'prototype infinite world.'
But tens of millions of years ago, likely due to the battle between the Sage of Demons and the mastermind behind the scenes, the entity behind the Evil Gods, various mutations occurred in the multiverse. The Starry World ceased its growth at that time, maintaining its current size. Even so, its volume was already extremely vast, and the solidity of its world barrier had reached a point where even Joshua could not break through it in a short time.
In truth, it wasn't that he couldn't break through. If he used his true strength, there might be ways—the main issue was that Joshua was concerned about using violent means to open a door. Setting aside the energy consumption, if an Evil God were spying from outside, wouldn't that give them an opportunity to invade? He had to find a method that wouldn't damage the Starry World's barrier to enter and exit.
Was there such a method?
Of course there was—otherwise, how would the original inhabitants and creators of the Starry World, the 'Founders,' have entered and exited this final fortress of theirs?
Using his current highest authority within the Starry World, the Triple Veil activated a hidden passage left by the Founders, opening a portal for Joshua to project his avatar outward. Without this, he could not have arrived in the outer void so quickly.
Now, Joshua was already in the void. He opened his eyes, but even before he did, his more precise and reliable Steel Vision observation organs had already activated, scanning the entire surrounding situation without blind spots.
The result was that he found nothing.
It wasn't 'no danger,' 'no enemies,' or 'nothing worth noting.' Joshua was surprised but not puzzled to find that the outer void of the Starry World was an empty, desolate nothingness—he looked around and could only see an endless dark void. As far as his vision extended, everything was barren, without even ruins. At most, there were tiny fragments like world wreckage drifting in the void, like specks of dust floating in clear water, making the Starry World look like a ball shrouded in dust.
"No wonder the Starry World stopped expanding. The World Star River outside it—if there ever was one—has been completely destroyed. Even the ruins and relics in the Silent Void are gone, leaving only a few embers."
Joshua was surprised because this was indeed astonishing, but he was also mentally prepared for it. After all, according to the Triple Veil, the war between the Founders and the possible mastermind had lasted an extremely long time, with its aftershocks only gradually dissipating by the time the Sage of Demons' civilization emerged.
For a void transcendent war of such intensity, it was not strange to annihilate a World Star River. As an exceptionally sturdy super-large world, only the Starry World from the former World Star River had the ability to survive the war.
After confirming that there was no chaotic aura from Evil Gods or other worlds outside the Starry World, Joshua shifted his attention to other matters. Soon, he discovered other things worth his focus.
In the void outside the Starry World, the Great Magic Tide was far more surging than in the Multiverse Star River where his home world was located.
No, not just far more—it was a world of difference!
Visible in the void, the Great Magic Tide, spreading like mist, was now raging like a tsunami, transforming into rushing currents and rivers that sped through the void. White shockwaves, broader than large worlds, formed waves capable of flattening worlds, scouring everything in the void clean—even the space-time turbulence generated by the Starry World was compressed into droplet-shaped ripples, stretching backward.
If the surging white tide of the Great Magic Tide was like a giant wave sweeping the heavens, then the Starry World was like an eternal reef, firmly resisting the impact and staying rooted in place.
"Such a massive Magic Tide?! And such high concentration?!"
Extending two right hands, Joshua took samples from the surrounding tide for evaluation. He accessed the data in his mind, roughly estimated the energy density of the Great Magic Tide around the Mycroft World, and then estimated that around the Starry World. He was immediately stunned: "Are we really in the same multiverse?"
The difference between the two was simply beyond numerical comparison!
To put it metaphorically, if the Magic Tide Light witnessed by the Mycroft World was as weak as a half-open faucet's stream, then the Great Magic Tide outside the Starry World was at least a massive tsunami triggered by a magnitude 12 earthquake, sweeping across several continents!
"This place is definitely very close to the source of the Magic Tide!"
Joshua didn't need to think to reach this conclusion. Even if it weren't, he had certainly arrived at a location extremely close to the truth behind the Magic Tide. The warrior could confirm this without a doubt, as he had also discovered a large number of high-density world fragments in the Magic Tide samples—the Authority of Steel. This was not something that could be casually created; it absolutely required the destruction of many worlds to achieve this concentration. Even the Void Great Maelstrom and the area around the Siberia World in the past didn't have this density.
—What is the origin of the Great Magic Tide?
In the past, Joshua had discussed this question with the Rune Master Baniel, the Psychic Dominator William, and the Elemental Master Barbarossa of the Sky-Piercing White Tower, at the mage tower in the Eastern Plains.
At that time, because Steel Shards drifting in the void were captured by the Mycroft World, a large number of awakened sorcerers with innate spellcasting abilities were created. This event even prompted Joshua to travel to the Void Great Maelstrom, where he discovered clues about the Black Mist's lair and was led to the Siberia World, witnessing the bitter fruits brought by 'suddenly emerging superpowers' to a civilization without supernatural power.
And by gathering the power of many world fragments into one, the strongest of Siberia at that time, Fatlervi, even reached a level capable of driving the Steel Serpent away from the world. That was also one of the most powerful enemies Joshua had ever encountered in his life.
Setting these aside, these Steel Shards, which could trigger the awakening of abilities in intelligent life, were undoubtedly fragments of broken worlds and one of the sources of supernatural power in certain worlds. At that time, Joshua speculated that the source of the Great Magic Tide might be the corpses of countless broken worlds surging from the center of the multiverse, and the immeasurably vast, wave-after-wave Magic Tide Light might be the radiance of worlds at the moment of destruction.
But neither the Joshua of then nor the Joshua of now had ever imagined that he could be so close to the source of the Great Magic Tide.
Standing in the void, the four-armed giant slowly stepped forward. He lowered his hand, releasing the restrained Magic Tide energy. Joshua's movements were not affected by the surging Great Magic Tide; the massive energy flow capable of erasing worlds was merely a gentle breeze to him. He gradually stepped into the center of the energy tide, then looked up toward its source.
"Is the Starry World in such a delicate position?"
Joshua turned, looking from front to back, watching the tsunami-like Magic Tide waves roar into the distance. His expression was somewhat surprised, and he couldn't help but murmur softly: "No, this isn't strange."
—After all, this is the Starry World, the origin of Psionic Energy, the Founders' final fortress.
It wasn't that it was beside the source of the Magic Tide; rather, the Magic Tide, as a later arrival, appeared beside the Starry World. That was the normal logic.
To this day, Joshua felt he was getting closer to the truth behind the multiverse—the Great Magic Tide was a phenomenon affecting the entire multiverse, not just a single Multiverse Star River. In a sense, the Great Magic Tide itself was far stronger than any known transcendent being. Whether it was Emperor Amos, the High Patriarch of the Takur, or Joshua himself, or other hidden experts in other civilizations and other Multiverse Star Rivers, none had reached this level.
"The Magic Tide is definitely not naturally formed but artificially created... Unfortunately, when I last communicated with the Knowledge Seizer, I didn't ask them whether this phenomenon appeared after the Sage of Demons' birth."
The Great Magic Tide, sweeping across myriad realms, had undoubtedly raised the concentration of supernatural power in all worlds. Even in large worlds with extremely low supernatural concentration, a temporary 'era of spiritual energy resurgence' would occur during the Magic Tide period. This was a massive popularization and diffusion for the Arcane Power system, the subsequent Elemental Aether system, and the nearly homologous Life Energy system, with effects far better than Joshua's diffusion of the Emotion Force system in the Starry World.
—Perhaps the Magic Tide was the Sage of Demons' method for spreading the Arcane Power supernatural system?
At least, it was possible.
Thinking this, the warrior continued to step forward, walking against the Magic Tide. He wanted to get as close as possible to see the potential source of the Magic Tide.
But the more he moved, the more Joshua felt suppressed—a sensation he hadn't experienced in a long time. Since transforming into a world and sinking into the Genesis Maelstrom for several years, Joshua had never again felt any lack of stamina or suppression. To be clear, the amount of matter surging at the bottom of the Genesis Maelstrom was at a level that could create several worlds at any moment, with concentrations billions of times greater than the outside. Joshua's main body had been in seclusion there for years, and even if it couldn't fully absorb it, it was comparable to drifting in the void for over a hundred thousand years, hunting dead worlds.
But now, facing the excessively surging Magic Tide, Joshua's avatar clearly felt its movement becoming increasingly difficult, like an ordinary person facing a sea tide, struggling to maintain balance. If not for the warrior's exceptional skill control and his transformation of his form into a streamlined shape to reduce impact, he would likely have been swept away by the Magic Tide.
"Is this the limit?"
When Joshua's avatar reached a point where the Starry World behind him was almost invisible, he had to stop, using all his strength to keep himself in place. He knew that if it were his main body, he could go further, but for an avatar, this was the limit.
As for why not use the main body... after all, his main body couldn't leave the Starry World and rashly go outside. If several Evil Gods were to besiege him while his main body was out, even the main body would fall into a bitter struggle, and he would lose the advantage of purging Chaos within the Starry World. It was better to use an avatar, which possessed most of the main body's strength but lacked reserve mass, for exploration.
There was no regret; there would be opportunities later. After purging the Chaos within the Starry World, Joshua could naturally prepare thoroughly before coming again. So, after silently recording the relative space-time coordinates of this area, the warrior planned to turn back and return to the Starry World.
This time, outside the Starry World, he hadn't sensed any chaotic aura. However, due to the Great Magic Tide, even if there were any information, it would have been washed away. Regarding this, Joshua planned to leave some automatic patrol sub-units outside the Starry World to monitor the situation comprehensively, lest, upon returning inside, lurking Evil Gods or Chaos minions suddenly pop out from who-knows-where.
But before completely leaving, Joshua couldn't help but deeply gaze at the end of the Magic Tide's white torrent—in that instant, he diverted all the energy and focus used for maintaining balance to his observation equipment, to see through the distant mist-shrouded beyond.
Then, just before being swept away by the Magic Tide's torrent, he saw a star.
A bright... indescribably colored... blazing, all-illuminating 'star' that seemed to be... the source of everything, the beginning of all things.
Joshua saw, behind the seemingly endless radiance of the Magic Tide, another incredibly conspicuous light! This light was extremely familiar to him, as if he had seen it in some distant memory, witnessed it with his own eyes!
"Is that... the First Flame?!"
Even Joshua couldn't help but exclaim in shock. Although the next moment, he was swept up by the Magic Tide's torrent and carried downward, the radiance he had seen in that brief instant was deeply rooted in the warrior's vision and heart. For a moment, Joshua even forgot to maintain his balance. He was accelerated by the Great Magic Tide's power and then slammed firmly into the Starry World's barrier.
Boom! Violent energy ripples spread in a ring, but were quickly scoured clean. Joshua lay on the Starry World's barrier in a 'man' shape, but he didn't get up, his mind still replaying that small but clearly visible 'star.'
"Is that... the First Flame?"
Joshua murmured softly to himself. This wasn't the first time he had seen the First Flame. In the memories of the Plenty Evil God, its radiance was infinitely brighter than what he had just seen. But that was different—one was in another's memory, the other was witnessed with his own eyes.
They were absolutely not the same thing.
"Correct."
Suddenly, just as Joshua was still immersed in the shock of his discovery, a strange voice came, its tone flat, carrying an emotionless indifference: "Your guess is very accurate."
This voice was not any language or any form of psychic communication, but a bizarre 'contagion' that seemed to write memories directly into the mind and self-replicate. Accompanying this voice was an incredibly massive 'tentacle,' and within this tentacle was wrapped an empty world!
The world-entangling tentacle seemed to appear out of nowhere. It slammed down toward Joshua, as if intending to imprison the warrior directly into the world it held. Simultaneously, the other's calm tone arrived.
"That is the First Flame."