Soul of Searing Steel

Chapter 954: But of Course

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After a discussion with the other Legendary champions, Joshua had decided to head for Stellaris with his true form to purge the Evil God spawn and attempt to hunt for the lesser Evil Gods, while his clone scouted the unusual happenings at the Galaxy of Bloodbath in attempt to uncover the truth behind the mystery.

There was therefore no doubt that Creed and Elma’s involvement then was a pleasant surprise—one was from Mycroft and a former expeditionary captain, while the other was a local Amos and seemed to hold considerable rank as a Supreme-pinnacle champion with the excess strength to break the seal on national borders. Either way, both of them had their causes, and were within the borders of the Amos Court.

Things could not have gone better.

There was nothing greater than having the two act as his agents in investigating the state of affairs in the Court; it was certainly more convenient than having sent a clone to gather intelligence. After all, his clone was ultimately an infiltrator that would have had to revert to direct confrontation mode once his cover was blown, while Elma was part of the local governance. Joshua therefore gifted Creed Phantom Gold imbued with artificial Steel Authority which encrypted jargons and aids in infiltration and spying. Elma was meanwhile given Azure Blue, which held Steel Authority but was tailored for combat and temporarily boosted her strength and size to absorb energies and unleash powerful Legendary-class blows.

That way, Joshua may not have even needed to lift a finger to uncover the truth.

However, with the secondary objective, the Galaxy of Bloodbath, having surprising developments, things were going rather slow at Stellaris, the initial primary target...or as he would have put it, it was not the right timing yet—it would have taken a considerable period of preparations for the Midgardians to perform a summoning ritual.

There was also a simple reason behind the sudden need for the ritual when they could have freely travelled to and from Stellaris. It was not Star the Steel Python driving away any elements from realms beyond, nor was it that the Chaos invasion would have triggered an instinctive reflex in worlds to repel unexpected guests, but rather...it was because Joshua was too heavy.

Truth be told, when Joshua contacted the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds and queried the Commanding Will in regards to when he could have gotten there, the warrior remained unaware of the fact despite the Will not holding back and apologizing straightaway while stating that it could not be done. It was only when the Will began quoting the numbers and honestly pointed out how the mass of his true form exceeded the standard volume of dozens stars, and that the artificial black-hole, which drove rapidly whirling engine inside his body, was heavier than an ordinary world that Joshua realized the truth with a start.

Indeed, how could his astronomical mass be easily transported? Moving around conveniently was impossible unless the Midgardians built a Dimensional Hub and spend over half a year to calibrate a Stargate or teleportation beacon on Stellaris, just like what the Expeditionary had done back at the Zeta Ram system.

After all, Stellaris had a very thick dimensional barrier, since it was a vast realm containing thousands of galaxies. While it would not have been a problem for the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds to send an ordinary Legend over, the Midgardians had to at least build a supermassive spell formation the size of a planetary system, coordinate its exterior and interior, and open a gap allowing Joshua to get inside, with Joshua’s mass as it was.

It was due to Stellaris being a supermassive singular world. Had it been a miniature world, Joshua would not even have been able to approach, much less teleport inside. The world would have collapsed, been decimated, and been absorbed by him should he have insisted on entering—a fate more frightening than an Evil God invasion.

Therefore, after sending Stellaris the related information and having them prepare a receiving teleportation circle, Joshua had nothing else to do other than to wait for them to get ready, or to carry out certain excess frivolities. Incidentally, he could handle and delegate certain necessary matters before he finally left—such as the project now, which was the attempt to create a small shelter world.

Joshua’s human-sized clone slowly rose up. He looked around New Xillia, seeing gentle scarlet everywhere he looked.

The ring world was very huge.

In the realm of ether dubbed the Sage’s Refuge, the profound constructs known as the Ring World boasted sizes that exceeded imagination. Having 24,000 times the surface area of the Earth, billions could live upon it in stability, and it was equivalent to having 24,000 hospitable worlds built, a grand project that transcended what ordinary creatures could conceptualize.

But it was too massive, and that remained a disadvantage.

There was no question that the Ether Ring World would be the final refuge of all intelligent civilizations when the war against extinction ignited in the future. It was the hope beyond despair, the crown of worlds of order, the diamond ring of worlds—and as important as it had been, its objective was too profound.

Even by blocking all information memes through the use of artificial stars as an energy source, along with the Ether Ring World as the basis for a massive spell to hide the world in the dark galactic remains, it was not a hundred percent secure. It was not difficult to destroy the ring world despite the trouble in creating it, for as long as there a hostile Legend existed, they could destroy the circulation that maintained balance in the world, causing a part or even the entire world to lose control and the shelter to malfunction.

That was why they could not bet everything they had on it.

In order to gain as much assurance as they could gather in ensuring the survival of human civilization should the day of need come, the important characters hence caught sight of the design of shelter worlds, realms that were a size smaller than the ring world. The procedure of its construction was simple too—find a world that was mid-sized or perhaps smaller, alter it to suit human habitation, and enchant it with concealment magic—and the shelter world would have been completed.

And that was precisely what Joshua was doing at the moment—working alongside Zero Three and using the divine power of the God of the Sky to shield New Xillia from being connected to the outside, thus creating a small shelter.

Now, they had to design the interior of the shelter to be more suitable for human habitation.

Hovering in the air, Joshua lifted his hand, and all unmanned siege machines in New Xillia moved at once, energizing and igniting their engines in an instant. As if steered by spectrals, dozens of thousand construction machines all moved and worked in synchrony.

“Adjusting the shape and position of floating islands, layering with runic formation base to shield information and memes, connecting energy source to the Scarlet Lifetree and setting it as the largest solar energy harvester....”

Joshua did not use excessive strength, but simply controlled the machines to achieve something he applied Steel Strength for in the past. He could see that the Scarlet Lifetree which was protected by the Luminous Humanoid, Light’s true form, had been very helpful in shifting its roots around so that the machines controlled by Joshua could carry out their task freely, even offering a considerable chunk of its trunk to set up as the base for runic inscription.

If Joshua task was to alter the landscape and set up the base for the spell, Zero Three’s work was to construct new buildings for governance or the public according to the blueprints on the land that Joshua had cleared. As the AI girl called out, Black obediently descended from her random flight and casted her Ancient Dragon power to create was semi-permanent hot spring from the water source, providing individual hot tubs in each building. Meanwhile, Light had gained considerable Creation ability after being provided with many Steel Shards by Joshua. At Joshua and Zero Three’s instructions, the part worked together to shift around the rugged floating continent into an astonishing disc-shaped world!

The form of the itself was the most perfect saucer there was, the center of which was the ocean-sized Bloody Lake and the Scarlet World Tree, its roots and branches reaching across the entire floating island. The tree and its branches had been pruned to such a conforming appearance that it resembled a spiderweb that spreads out by layers, dividing the disc-shaped world into 9,600 major districts. At the edges were protruding summits, each forming a very distinct dented realm.

The disc-shaped world was 5,000 meters in diameters and twenty million squared kilometers long in surface. With Joshua having jointly calibrated it alongside New Xillia, the world’s environment was distinctly suitable for human condition, its weather resembling Mycroft’s subtropics climate of the Far South. Rivers flowed down from the mountains by the fringes and converged at the Bloody Lake—which may have come to be known as the Bloody Sea in the future—down the middle. Then, the steam rising from the bloody Lake would have in turn followed the trunk of the World Tree and the cloud layer and returned to the edge of the mountains, forming water circulation.

Zero Three had already visibly completed a cluster of buildings near the shores of the Bloody Lake. One side contained mana core charging stations, water circulation facilities, garbage disposal, and recycling centers, while the other was allocated for industrial factories, business districts and other constructions that may be built in the future. As for the mountains at the world’s fringes, the plains nearest to the rivers were plantations. Joshua had previously handed Light seeds to be sowed there, each of which were blessed by druids. They would have rapidly grown and matured into lush fields, supplying food and luxury for all life in the world.

In other words, the center of the world would have acted as a dense industrial zone for energy and resources, while the world’s fringes were vast agricultural zones. Between those two were naturally residential areas, with Joshua and Zero Three having built floating highways and rail tracks on the Scarlet World Tree’s branches—set up between the extremely convenient paths, the residential area was separated into smaller districts.

In one of the residential zones that was almost completed, a green tree could be seen separating each housing, most of the housing being units of more than twenty floors, with fifteen such buildings forming a rectangular 3×5 district. There were singular mansions that ranged from three to six floors as well, and every residential building had individual semi-permanent hot springs. Convenient walkways were also built in the districts, along with gardens and orchards that were self-sufficient during emergencies.

“It’s perfect.”

Having generally finished the basic layout, Zero Three sat with Joshua on Black’s head and overlooked the world beneath the sun’s radiance. It felt as if the disc-shaped world was an exquisite gem, in which the AI girl breathed in wonder at. “It’s already so much better than Mycroft... I can’t even begin to imagine the bliss of the people who will live here.”

“You’re satisfied with that?”

Joshua shook his head in disagreement but smiled. “Later, I’m setting up a standalone Mana Net server here so that everyone can use the Spirit Terminal at any given time, maintaining communication at all times between every corner and everyone in this world. Later, I will also be creating a massive subterranean realm to modify the disc-shaped world into a three-dimensional refuge, even making it so that it has the capacity for free flight—when the time comes, don’t be dumbstruck since I’m still far from using up all my inspiration.”

After all this place was merely a prototype, a small experiment—a shelter world made and tailored to Light’s requirements.

“...”

Zero Three was absolutely shocked beyond words by Joshua’s fantasy, and it was a long time later before she lowered her head to mumble softly, “I’m not shocked. Who would be surprised by a lunatic like you!”

The AI girl’s soft mumblings naturally went unnoticed by Joshua. In truth, the experimental molding of New Xillia was very successful and had provided Joshua with much terraforming experience. Soon, he would apply to his own world as well as relay the experience to the Seven Gods as they improved the division of the ring world’s districts.

Molding the world appeared to be a seemingly mundane matter, though Zero Three and Black would not have thought so too—it was certainly an important process where technical aggregation was the most vital. Even if he was one of the greatest Legends in history, Joshua could not have visualized how an artificial world’s layout should have been out of nowhere—he would only have understood and be inspired after trying out and deciding firsthand how it was to be arranged.

“...So, you’re running off to save another after world right after you have created one?”

After another silence, Zero Three looked up at Joshua who stood beside him on Black’s head, a somber hint of helplessness in her voice. “Honestly, you’re backing yourself to a corner, Joshua... No one is supposed to be that busy!”

“I’ve known you for a dozen years. Starting from Karlis, right after a brief month of rest following each major incident, adventure to a new world, or battles where you slay millions of Evil God minions, you would run off again to fight another unthinkably powerful champion... For real, the number and intensity of battles you get involved with is hundreds of times more than ordinary Legends! They barely fight in full power once every several years, but you go out to fight again and again in the span of days!”

“Not saving, I’m just going there to help. Moreover...”

Zero Three appeared to have more to say, but Joshua simply turned leisurely and stopped her with a smile. “This is the life I relish—I wouldn’t have become so powerful without so many battles, right?”

With those words, Joshua turned to stare at the Blood Moon which shimmered over the disc-shaped world—the sun of New Xillia. “You would probably have gained basic know-how about building and altering worlds by the time the construction is completed,” he said calmly. “Therefore, you can assist the Seven Gods in building the shelter realms and ring world while I go off to fight in Stellaris. The reason I’ve brought you along to alter the world is because I have faith in your ability.”

“As for me...haha. It’s better to worry for my enemies than my mental health. After all, I’m merely facing millions, while they’re facing Joshua van Radcliffe!”

It was neither a boast nor self-glorification—the warrior was simply stating the truth.

Even so, that little name was more convincing than a thousand words.

What more could Zero Three have said to that?

“There’s no helping it then—you’re beyond saving.” The AI girl shrugged. With a mix of annoyance, futility and a little hint of mirth, she blessed him softly.

“If that is so, I can only wish you safe journey, and... save a few worlds, great hero, savior of worlds.”

“But of course.”

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