Soul of Searing Steel

Milhabus, half-kneeling beside the others quietly listened without the feeling of being ignored. Mother of Midgard was conversing with Void Beings who could suppress an entire fleet by themselves after all—himself being merely the most powerful psionic in a planet and a descendant so many generations after the Mother, naturally could not participate since it paled in both identity and ability. Even so, there was a thought that came scrambling after he heard Joshua’s plans.

—Gotcha!

—The Void Being has exposed its true nature as expected! And here I was thinking why would the Halo of Terror that eroded the Psionic Beam would just appear for that instant, and I truly thought that he was truly benevolent… never thought that he would expose himself here, this fellow who takes pleasure in destruction and wants us to go down together with the Void Mother!

Milhabus, believing that he had grasped the truth, said nothing. He did not even change its expression to prevent others from catching his thoughts—the Grand Consul planned to keep the secret inside and tell it to just a few close confidants.

On the other hand, both Mother Tree and Nostradamus treated Joshua’s suggestions with silence. With their knowledge and ability to see how they compared against the enemy, it was not as if they could not understand why Joshua would make such judgements—even so, both believed that there has to be a better solution.

“It’s too simple… At present, we don’t even know what kind of a lifeform the Void Mother is, so how could you make such a simple decision?”

Nostradamus appeared troubled as he placed one hand on his hip while using the other to rub his forehead. “This world is special. What lies beyond the skies isn’t a planetary shield that separates the Void and this world, but sheets of thin atmosphere and vacuum, with the spherical world using gravity to tether life that survives on its own surface… The world is just too big, and my many experiences would not help.

“The only thing we could be pleased about is that the energy model of this world does not clash with the Mycroft continents, allowing us to quickly adapt.”

Even as the old mage spoke, sheets of overlapping light-blue runes surfaced around Nostradamus’ body. He appeared to be adjusting certain spells he had mastered in response to the unfamiliar world.

Joshua understood his distress—a Legendary mage who came from a small-scale hemispheric plane with concentrated energies would definitely experience an assault on his common knowledge after arriving on a large-scale planetary system with lower energy levels. Even if Nostradamus would not bust his own head over such frivolity, but his few dozen years of combat experience was unquestionably meaningless.

However, would being overly concerned about the integrity some trivial spells be meaningful in the face of warships that were several kilometers long and superior beings over hundreds of kilometers in length? Warping to evade an enemy’s attacks should have been suffice by moving a few meters, but now, if they did not warp over a few kilometers they might not even have escaped the area of effect from the enemy’s attack. While the large-scale buffing halo that could covered several kilometers is naturally divinely effective, it was negligible on the scale of the universe. Nostradamus hence believed he would not be able to employ fifty percent of his usual powers due to the drastic changes in scale, which was the source of his distress.

“…It’s not as if your opinion can’t be considered.”

The Mother Tree’s will which had been silent for silent time suddenly spoke, amidst Milhabus’s shocked gaze. Apart from the surprised Grand Consul, even Ling and Ying were looking fearfully towards the direction of the Vortex, where the Mother Tree’s body was. However, the ancient integration of will did not pause due to the other’s gazes, and merely continued. “We have conferred in our body, and the conclusion was that ‘Continuation of the Midgardian civilization’ takes priority. It is unacceptable to have it die by the Void Behemoth’s hand, turning our long history into anonymous dust that floats around space while losing ninety percent of our population. There is nothing fearful about self-detonating the home planet, much less triggering an explosion of a colony’s sun.

“You’re right. We don’t have much grounds for choice.”

The Mother Tree spoke slowly, yet its voice was extremely determined. Even as it spoke, Joshua felt that there were a million eyes staring at himself, but he fearlessly leveled his own gaze back at the multitude ancient Midgardian souls that somehow spoke with one voice. ” If you do not fear death, then my death is nothing. However, Void beings, I have one request which I hope you could agree.”

“Do tell,” Joshua responded. “I answered your summons and hence would fight for you—incidentally, I have something that requires your aid as well, but please, after you.”

“Then, please head to the Hall of the Mother Tree. Only there could I use my full power, and you may truly help me then.”

Joshua and Nostradamus glanced at each other—both men had considerable abilities and hence did not fear much danger or anything unexpected, thus agreeing to enter the Hall. In fact, to two Legendary champions, traveling amidst the stars was no labor, they could even wander the universe or even the Multiverse as they wished if there was nothing extreme or out of the ordinary. That was why, despite the Midgardians’ severe difficulty to enter the Vortex, it was nothing but flatlands to them.

Within a single breath, Joshua brought Ling and Ying to the ocean’s surface, while the old mage carried Milhabus and followed closely behind. In the next, the party arrived at the center of the Vortex, where an enormous wooden tree root that was over fifty meters in diameter reached out, and formed a deep cavity allowing several persons to enter in seconds.

“That’s… That’s the direct passage to the Hall of the Mother Tree!”

Not quite able to react in time, Milhabus needed one-tenth of a second to wonder how he arrived at the center of the vortex in two breaths. Still, he was ultimately an extraordinary psionic with quick reflexes, and so subconsciously began the introductions.

“You could just enter withi… Aaaaaaaah!”

After that abrupt scream, Milhabus had arrived in a giant wooden room that was naturally constructed as it opened its eyes again. There was mysterious flora that resembled a flower in the middle, and a singer silver anti-gravity sphere floated above it, where silver-blue psionic essence was flowing out incessantly from the flower petals before condensing into it.

This place was undoubtedly the rumored Hall of the Mother Tree, and with the two Legendary champion’s speed, they reached it even before Milhabus finished speaking.

Unlike how Joshua imagined it, the Hall had nothing of note or special apart from the psionic sphere of light.

Then, as if sensing Joshua’s inquisitiveness, the Mother Tree’s voice echoed.“The Hall of the Mother Tree is the inside of my body—it is therefore natural that there isn’t any decoration since it’s set up ad hoc.

“Now, Joshua, touch that sphere of light.”

Joshua lifted his brow lightly at the Mother Tree’s rather urgent words. He could tell that the Mother Tree was in an unusual mood but did not take too much mind—therefore, in the next instant, he arrived before that flower and reached out to touch the flower.

The flower itself resembled a sunflower. Apart from its external petals, there were tight formations of psionic crystal specks at its center, which materialized and flowed into the silver sphere. Joshua sensed nothing out of the ordinary at first, but when he approached, there was a smell of Steel Strength wafting from the sphere!

“Seems like psionic isn’t purely related to soul and will in this world—it has a certain relation to matter too.”

It was not an extraordinary guess. If psionic was truly pure spiritual power, it would not be so easy to influence matter as it did now—it definitely has partial physical attribute. But now, the psionic energy that only held matter was actually so concentrated it became the purest of Steel Strength, leaving Joshua in astonishment.

Still, keeping his emotions aside, Joshua kept reaching out to touch the sphere of Steel Strength.

Hence, light and shadow transformed.

There was a world formed from endless stars in the Void of the Multiverse.

Within a certain river in a corner of that profound world, fifteen planets of varying sizes orbited in a system illuminated by an orange sun. The massive star generous spread warm energy to its children, and because of that energy, the fourth planet from its orbit carried traces of life.

The planet, composed entirely of green and blue hues, has an orbiting satellite one fourth its size. Seventy percent of the planet surface was covered in oceans while the land was all dense forests. Different giant trees and shrubs survived stubbornly everywhere on land, whether it was mountain ridges, cliff walls, rivers or swamps. They were entrenched in stone and mud, valleys and hills—even in the desert, the plants would flex their leaves at dawn, bathing in the sun’s radiance, before absorbing the nutrients from the land and grow fertilely.

Being an atypical ecosystem, it therefore shaped atypical life, which perhaps included extremely dangerous hunters. But unlike what everyone imagined, those plain and unremarkable plants were themselves the most dangerous hunters—everything would be incomparably normal when the sun still hangs high above the sun. But when it sets in the rest and the moon rose above, the surface layers and branches of those plants would start to protrude sharp, serrated teeth or even gaping, horrifying mandibles.

These fearsome plants of different species would hunt each other in units of tribes, fighting with their teeth, toxic and sharp roots. Losers would become fertilizer of the winners, while weaker species would forever suffer the fate of being devoured by other plants. Only the strong survive.

The ‘Midgard’ race was, in turn, one of those races cruelly eliminated from the competition in ancient times. However, they became the dominant species not because they turn out to be the strongest, but the smartest of the planet.

Precursors of Midgardians were flora life that had gray fiber bark and bodies resembling trees, but they had two more branches that could move freely, with substantial sensitive tentacles evolved from roots branching out from them. These beings that could use developed roots to move over the land relied on an innate psionic vision to view the world—their agile mental faculty was capable of sensing the rich particles of energy and move around in pursuit of those energies.

With psionic ability, intelligence, a way to observe the world, accumulated experience from using tools and so forth, the Midgardian civilization slowly developed beneath the warm sun, until a million years later, a dozen of Midgardian sages now called the pioneers unified their races and created the first tribal system.

The development of civilization hence became explosive. Midgardian became the prime civilization of mobile plants after the long period of over four million years, and yet established one feudalistic kingdom after another in a little over a millennium. Then, the spectacle shifted—it was now a Midgardian scholar which was adjusting the focus of its telescope amidst the watchful eyes of kings and nobles, desiring to view the splendor of the gods beyond the heavens.

And yet it saw nothing—or perhaps it had seen too much. When the Midgardian’s eyes first pierced the atmosphere and arrived at the vast Void of the universe, the gray-fiber skinned plants noticed one fact in shock: there were no gods in the skies, but an entire world of silent celestial bodies. It was beyond doubt a lethal blow the old divine authority of the Midgardians, and countless citizens that had been yearning to meet the gods beyond the atmosphere renounced their faith in despair, choosing the spiral self-destructive.

And then came a dazzling light.

Joshua, who was now watching the light through the Steel Strength memories given to him by the Mother Tree that also revealed the history of the Midgardians, believed that the Mother Tree is convinced that its death was assured, and hence planned to move part of its vault of information to him. It would have guaranteed that, even if the Midgardian civilization was utterly wiped out, there was still a possibility called hope.

He never expected to see something even more important.

The Sage’s advent.

There was nothing else but a dazzling light at his arrival as he boldly opened the Void Door and entered the view of a Midgardian astronomer’s telescope. No doubt that had gave it quite a scare, and sensing the fact, the Sage came in the company of starlight, blessing this fortunate world.

The Sage’s blessing was repetitive. He unified the divided Midgardians into a single body and refined their social structure just as he did for Mycroft all those years ago. However, apart from that, a simpler event was the rice of a new faith. As the ancient tales of the gods died after the discovery of the true form of stars, the new religion of the Void Saint appeared upon this world. In fact, the Midgard planet’s mentality had been leaning towards materialism, but the Sage’s appearance directly raised idealism once again.

After helping the Midgardians solve certain issues, construct an elevated platform and leaving a token, the Sage thus split the dimensions once more and returned to his voyage across the Multiverse. Hence, the Midgardian continued for millennia, until today.

The illusion subsequently vanished, and Joshua furrowed his brow in thought. The information given to him by the Mother Tree was much more than he imagined—he had seen every important discovery the Midgardians had: sensing psionic energies, the first psionic spell, widespread selection of psionic acolytes, entering the age of psionic industry, production warp doors, and warp engines. After those incredible technologies and many others had been perfected, the even planned to create gigantic colony ships and prepared to cross the vacuum of space thousands of light years away in search of the Sage’s whereabouts.

It had to be said that Midgardians certainly possess unorthodox power. Although the mission to search for the Sage proved fruitless, they succeeded in summoning both the Evil God minion and Joshua’s party through the Void Door ritual, meaning that their psionic bodies carried incredible depth.

“Just as you guessed… Void Being Joshua, I planned to place part of the Midgardian civilization upon your person. That way, even if I’m vanquished, part of the Midgardian civilization remains in you.”

The flower at the center of the Hall had now withered and the silver sphere vanished. Feeling his body empowered with a new iota of power and massive volumes of memory fragments, Joshua shook his head.

“It’s not at that stage yet—you’re too pessimistic.”

“It’s prudence,” the Mother Tree replied serenely with nary a change in expression despite Joshua’s criticism. “The Psionic Ritual had exponentially empowered you, but it would not last long and isn’t just focused on you alone. Which is why we must—for prudence’s sake—destroy the Void Behemoth or escape its pursuit in a hundred days, when the Psionic Beam’s buff on you is still at its peak.

“No doubt that the operation success rate is extremely low, which is why I must prepare for the future.”

Joshua did not intend to counter the Mother Tree’s opinion—everyone has their point of view, there was no need to forcefully correct them all. In addition, were Midgardians not fundamentally plants with rigid brains? Which was why he quickly switched topics.

“I promise you. If I do not perish in this mission, I would build a library out of text archiving the Midgardian civilization, as well as the history and culture you left me. I promise you that your kind would maintain a shadow even in another world. And now, it’s time you aided me.”

The warrior was promptly taken aback even as he spoke—he suddenly remembered [Continental War], the game he played in his past life, and the words of the Sage he recently heard.

Don’t worry. Proof of Mycroft’s existence would never be wiped out.

As for its destruction, it’s up to the later generations.

Such words of such conviction were spoken by the Sage who had left so long ago, and the ‘proof’ of Mycroft’s existence vanishing, could it have been…

“Please, speak.” the Mother Tree replied as Joshua was halfway through his own thoughts. “I would do my best to satisfy you.”

Joshua frowned and halted the churning thoughts in his mind.

“Give me an engine,” he quickly said. “I want to learn the ways of warping.”