Soul of Burning Steel

Starfall 838, on January 20th, at the core of the central Black Forest, although it was winter, there was no snowfall.

In the center of the Mycroft Continent, there is a primeval forest that occupies nearly a quarter of the continent. The ancient magic power mixed with the atmosphere of chaos infects this land, making it fertile beyond common sense. Because of this, all kinds of forests here The vegetation grows so fast that it makes the scalp tingle, and countless monsters and dragon beasts also take shelter in this black forest, where they can reproduce leisurely.

The area of ​​the Central Black Forest used to be much larger than it is now. Thousands of years ago, when the Starfall era civilization first opened, four-fifths of the entire Mycroft continent was covered by it, and only a few areas with shelters A normal order environment is maintained, but now, due to the continuous development and logging of various ethnic groups over the years, and the reverse erosion of the magic power of chaos by the fire of order, the Black Forest has not only been unable to divide the four major human settlements, but has begun to appear. obvious atrophy.

But even so, the area of ​​the central Black Forest is larger than that of any single human force, and even the entire territory of the Hergamos Empire in the north cannot be compared.

Such a vast, primitive forest full of monsters and relics of the last era has been the main stage of various legends and adventure stories since ancient times. Countless adventurers have come here for trials when they were young. Many strong It is also here that they became famous. Here, some mercenaries once discovered the ancient alchemy map in the depths of the forest, and then became rich and famous overnight. Some adventurers discovered the temple of the ancient god and ascended to heaven in one step. Great achievement.

It is even said that the founder of the Far South Business Alliance discovered the first pot of gold from the Black Forest, so he has wealth beyond the enemy's country and power comparable to a country.

But now, there is a team of exploration team members from the Northern Empire's "Imperial Foreign Exploration Department", who are undergoing arduous training in the depths of this ancient black forest.

"Priest, I don't see any use in training in this damn place."

In the depths of the central Black Forest, on a high place away from the ground, among the bushes covered by the shadows of giant tree branches and leaves, five young men in camouflage uniforms, covered in mud and sweat marks all over their bodies, were quietly lying on the high hanging On the branch, looking nervously into the distance.

They wear short knives at their waists, helmets with goggles on their heads, and a layer of dull magic symbols on their clothes that are agitating, weakening everyone's sense of existence, and on each wrist, there is an inconspicuous The dim spar, which is an information terminal that has been popularized among the high-level empire in the past year or so.

Just now, someone in the team complained to his teammates through the information terminal: "Seven gods, the mission of our external exploration department is to explore other worlds, not to fight wits and bravery with a group of brainless beasts in the primeval forest. And pretending to be a bird lying on a branch! My God, do we look like birds!"

"Like a bird?"

"Like a bird? Ah, this smell, I feel like I'm rotting."

"It smells sour, vomit!"

"Okay, as long as you have mouths, the monsters here may not be inferior to you in terms of intelligence alone, they may even be able to detect the mental fluctuations of the terminal!"

In the middle of the team, the young man who should be the team leader replied impatiently: "Continue to lurk, not far away should be the lair of the last target 'Boros pythons', as long as we confirm their specific residence Well, even if this training is a perfect success, we can return to the empire as soon as possible!"

The Boros python, whose name comes from the legendary monster "Ouroboros" in ancient times, their ancestors transcended the life essence of mortal things and mastered the ability to transform basic substances, so they have a huge body comparable to mountains and almost Immortal ultra-high-speed regenerative power, and as descendants of legendary creatures, they naturally have corresponding characteristics-every Boros python has a strength close to the gold level when it grows up, and if it is a little stronger, it can have countless A hundred meters long, more than ten meters wide, and extreme destructive power, they can convert solid rock walls into mud, and then easily overturn a city.

Wandering in the forest, the legendary giant Uroboros, impacted the human gathering place for unknown reasons, and died at the hands of the second generation of holy swordsman of Xishan. The snake bones became the skeleton of the wall of Trenton Fortress of Xishan. The descendants are still multiplying in the depths of the central black forest, and they are extremely nourishing. These mysterious giant beasts have a huge range of activities on weekdays, and even scholars who specialize in the study of monsters have difficulty determining where they live.

But now, after two months of continuous tracking and investigation by the exploration team, they have finally found the specific lair of the Boros pythons - a low hill in the middle of the Black Forest. They only need to observe the giant pythons entering and leaving the hill The hidden cave below, then their mission can be said to be a complete success.

"To be honest... I still don't understand why those high-level officials want us to determine the location and ecological habits of the 'Titan Dragonfly', 'Platinum Magic Vine' and 'Boros Python'."

Although they were reprimanded by Priest as the captain, because the observation process was too tense, some people still couldn't suppress it, and could only vent their pressure by complaining through the mental terminal: "These gold are even extremely Why do the descendants of legendary monsters at the top level need our exploration team, which has never been to the gold level, to observe? This is the Black Forest! If it weren't for luck, we would have died a long time ago, don't you know how many times?"

"Otherwise, it's called training, not an outing."

In this regard, Priest, who came from Moldavian Champion Academy in the Northland and had experienced hell training designed by a certain legendary powerhouse, couldn't help but be speechless: "Besides, it is precisely because the Black Forest is very dangerous that it is here. The value of training—otherwise, what should we do when we get to another world where the environment may be even more dangerous?"

The five people who are lurking in the trees, waiting for the opportunity to observe the activities of the Boros pythons on the hills in the distance, are the youngest elite team in the Empire's Foreign Exploration Department. During the three and a half months of training in the Black Forest, the five of them perfectly completed every scheduled task. With their superb survival skills, they successfully survived in the central area of ​​the Black Forest, which is known as "non-gold, you will die once you enter it", and successfully found Find the locations of the mission objectives Titan Dragonfly and Platinum Magic Vine.

Priest was quite indifferent to the complaints from his teammates. Most of the environment in the foreign world is unknown. Although the Empire’s Foreign Exploration Department will try to select living different worlds as targets, But it is because of life that it is dangerous, and no one knows what is going on in the other world.

In the world of Mycroft, the place most similar to other worlds is that it is infected by the magic power of chaos. So far, 40% of the area belongs to the unknown central black forest, followed by the deep sea in the far south. It is said that hundreds of years ago it really connected with the other world, and there are many strange alien creatures, and the sea abyss dragon is one of them.

What's more, Priest, as the captain, clearly knows the true purpose of his group to explore the gathering places of powerful monsters in the Black Forest.

Why didn't the major forces in the Mycroft world find a way to eradicate this primeval forest? There are many reasons for this. According to the explanation Priest heard in Moldavia, it is actually very simple, that is, the benefits brought by the Black Forest outweigh the losses it brings.

If the legendary powerhouses from all over the world join forces, then they will definitely be able to uproot the Black Forest, and completely eradicate 80% of the Black Forest area within a year, or even a few months. How much damage the continent has caused, how much elemental depletion will be caused by the magic power mobilized by the legendary powerhouse, and those monsters living in the Black Forest are even as high as hundreds of millions, which is more than the human population. There is no doubt that because of the destruction of their homeland, they will riot and run wild , even if only one tenth of it hits the surrounding human towns, it will cause extremely terrifying losses.

The existence of the demon tide has indeed caused great distress to all countries, but it can also bring extremely huge economic benefits. Countless furs, monster flesh and magic materials are almost delivered to the door, and there is no need for various forces to form hunting teams to capture them. , the daily exploration of each adventure team can also stably produce precious resources inside the forest, not to mention the various relics inside the Black Forest. Once adventurers harvest them, they will have extraordinary benefits, let alone their exploration. Didn't the team just fall in love with the special environment of the Black Forest, so they were sent here for training?

Compared with this huge benefit, building a fortress and sending troops to guard it every year is nothing more than a trivial matter.

But the indulgence of the Black Forest is already a thing of the past.

Since Starfall 722, there have been no large-scale power changes in the world of Mycroft. Although there will be various small frictions between various countries and forces, such as the Holy Mountain of the Far Sea and the White Tower of Guantian and The conflict between the murlocs, the conflict between the Qiyao Council and the White Tower of Guantian, the war between the northern empire and the orcs, and the internal strife among the countless kingdoms in the Western Mountains, none of these frictions and wars affected the general situation, and did not cause such a serious situation as the overthrow of the country. as a result of.

The stability of power means the gradual acceleration of development. War and friction are the accelerators of technology research and development. With the investment and practice year after year, the extraordinary power of the Mycroft civilization has become more advanced and powerful, and it has even reached the point where it can compete with its peers. The level of monsters crushed, and in the 810th year of Starfall, if it weren't for the unexpected big wave of monsters, it would be difficult for monsters to break through even a fortress.

The income from primitive fur and magic materials is gradually unable to meet the needs of civilization, and for the exploration of the Black Forest, all forces have collected enough data. Now, when the Mycroft civilization is about to explore the void, the leaders of various forces They all agreed tacitly that it was time to repair the wound left by this ancient chaos and turn it into the backyard of civilization.

Priest and the others are the advance team to ascertain the further situation.

"According to the news sent from the terminal, I heard that Lord Dean will even take action in person to deal with the Black Forest area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and expand a large area of ​​the empire's territory!"

Recalling the faint hints in the information terminal, Priest couldn't help but feel a little excited: "After the mission is over, maybe we can see the scene where the dean personally takes action!"

And at this moment, with the surrounding earth and mountains shaking slightly, a black shadow suddenly rose from the hidden cave under the hill observed by everyone in the exploration team, causing Priest and others to hold their breath subconsciously. Under the sunlight, the huge black shadow revealed its true form. It was a black-red giant python covered with metal scales and with sharp protruding heads like drill bits. The two pairs were as big as houses, arranged vertically. The snake's eyes exude golden light, and bursts of energy fluctuations visible to the naked eye are scattered around the snake's eye, like ripples in the water.

That's what everyone's aiming for, Boros Python! An extraordinary behemoth that lives underground all year round and develops by devouring metal rocks! It seems that they tracked it right. This hill is the entrance and exit of the giant pythons above and below the ground. In an instant, the team members who were complaining before all entered a state of high alert. They collectively turned on the function of the special information terminal on their wrists. , take a video in the distance, and then send it back to the headquarters of the Empire's Foreign Exploration Department far in the north.

And in the headquarters of the Empire's Foreign Exploration Department located in the imperial capital, the dean that Priest mentioned, Joshua van Radcliffe, was having a quite a discussion with Nostradamus in the living room. Ordinary conversation.

"A few days ago, Fairy Township issued an important diplomatic notice to the empire. They complained that your main body often passed the most popular observation port in Fairy Township, causing them to stare at the void in a daze."

The old mage held an information terminal in his left hand, and a light curtain appeared on the terminal. He swiped it a few times at random, and then found out the notice at that time. He shook his head with a smile and said: "There are also complaints from the researchers in the observatory. , They said that there have always been alarms of 'massive void objects rapidly approaching the Mycroft world' recently, but after the final investigation, they found that it was just a passing silver cocoon-summoning wandering ice elements."

As he said that, the other hand of the old mage clicked on the goblin card table in front of him, summoning an elemental life with a whole body of ice crystals and a human-shaped upper body.

[Wandering Ice Elemental, 3 Fees, 5 Attacks, 5 HP]

[Arrival: Freeze yourself for one round]

[Chain: You cannot summon creatures other than elemental systems]

"It can only be explained that there are a lot of steel particles around Fairy Township. My main body will automatically find its way, and I will spontaneously find the place with the highest concentration of particles on weekdays."

In this regard, Joshua shook his head. He glanced at the goblin card table in front of him, and then played a card: "Take it as a natural phenomenon, they will get used to it... Summon pirate assault soldiers and attack the players directly, and I Using the curved blade scimitar, it will also attack you directly."

[Pirate Assault Soldier, 3 Fees, 2 Attacks, 3 Life]

[Chain: If you have a pirate card on the field, get +1+0 and charge]

[Curved Scimitar, 2 Fees, 2 Attacks and 1 Durability]

[Chain: For each pirate card on your field, gain 1 durability]

Pirate Raiders directly attack Nostradamus' health symbol, making it appear red -3.

At this time, on the card table, there are already three creatures on Joshua's side, each of which has the ability to directly attack the player in the current round, or cause some direct damage, while Nostradamus has only A self-frozen ice element has only 17 health points left.

But Nostradamus didn't seem to care about this. He watched Joshua finish the round cheerfully, and then said: "Recently, you have been too low-key, and there are even rumors that you are exploring He was seriously injured in the void, and he is currently hiding in the territory to recuperate, if he is not careful, he will die."

"It's just a rumor. They also rumored that the natural teacher had an affair with the elf queen, and that Pope Igor had seventeen illegitimate children."

In this regard, the soldier shrugged his shoulders, and did not intend to waste too much energy on such boring rumors: "Let's not talk about the relationship between Galan Nord and Hernvallo IX. His Majesty Eagle has worked hard all his life. Where did you find the time to produce so many illegitimate children?"

There are all sorts of strange folk rumors, all kinds of messy news, but there is only one thing that is true, that is, he has been very low-key recently.

Ever since Joshua returned from the Ten Thousand Worlds Sacrificial Ground and returned to Moldavia, he has been staying in the main city and has never left the Northland. He spends his days strolling around, looking at the sea, and taking a group of people at home with him. Outing and shopping, going to Winterhold College to inspect, occasionally going to the abyss to see the scenery, catching one or two demons and asking about the current situation of the sixth abyss, the days are leisurely and carefree.

Among them, it is true that nothing has happened recently, and no further news has come from either Karlis or the deep-space observation, and the vision on the other side of the void vortex will not change in a month or two, so the recent For a while, Joshua basically stayed in his own territory, calmly thinking about the authority he had recently cultivated——the ability to create a new kind of substance in his body.

If the power of steel represents the origin of all matter and the essence of all known phenomena and authority in the material world, then the power of fire is the ability to change the world with one's own will.

The power of steel held by Joshua can simulate materials in various extreme situations, such as degenerate armor, quasi-absolutely smooth materials whose friction is infinitely close to zero, mirrors that can almost 100% reflect radiation, etc... These special substances provide a great boost to the fighter's daily battles, and can help him adapt to various battles and environments.

And the flame power from the authority of the Burning Soul King can use the burning soul as the source to directly reverse the reality of destruction, rekindle the flames in an already extinguished world, and cooperate with the creation power possessed by the ancient dragon, and even make a world near the end The chaotic world returns to order.

These two kinds of power complement each other, together with Joshua's soul abyss, it is even more powerful, giving soldiers great confidence in countless battles, but now, facing the same with all kinds of strange privileges and even He is a legendary powerhouse who doesn't talk about the power of the laws of physics at all. Joshua felt that it was a bit difficult, so he used the small world that was being born in his body as the source, and developed the ability to create certain substances that did not conform to the usual theorems. .

A world itself should be self-consistent in order, stable and long-lasting, and the various common sense theorems in each world are actually slightly different, just like the organs and circulatory systems in each different organism. It's not like that, the world doesn't seek perfection, as long as it can exist normally, that's enough.

And in a newly born world, how should its common sense theorems be determined? According to Joshua's experiments and conjectures, it should be through the method of "order resonance" between worlds, which is similar to the collective creation phenomenon in the great vortex of void. These worlds born around the world of Siberia should have the same The common sense theorem of the world is similar. Similarly, the world of Carliss around the world of Mycroft also has a similar environment. The races in the two worlds can even immigrate to each other.

If Joshua doesn't care about the small world in his body, then its internal theorems should become very similar to the Mycroft world, but if this is the case, it will be meaningless, so Joshua relies on this nascent world to be With the advantage of his own body, he forcibly added a special substance to the newly born world, a kind of [elementary particles that can only have the quantum entanglement ability in the world in Joshua's body and can transmit information at super-light speed].

But just adding such a substance brought the embryonic form of the world to the verge of collapse, and made Joshua rest for a long time - he also understood that such a substance that is completely beyond the common sense theorem of the ordinary world is extremely difficult to create Yes, every attempt is a subversion and challenge to the existing order.

But everything is worth it, because for Joshua, having such a super-light-speed information exchange medium is enough to make him many times stronger than before!

Humans, or in other words, the thinking speed of all creatures has an upper limit, because the transmission of information is not instantaneous, whether it is neural microcurrent, optical fiber, or multi-core joint thinking, the information transmission, reception, storage, and extraction The process needs corresponding time, even for the soul, the linkage between countless basic soul particles also takes time, but the upper limit of the thinking speed of the soul of ordinary creatures is higher than that of the material brain.

Even the old pope who turned into light, his thinking speed and information storage and extraction speed are nothing more than the speed of light. The amount of information that can be stored in a certain band of light waves is also limited, so even the legendary powerhouse, in an extremely small time In the paragraph, there will also be errors such as 'unresponsive', 'unpredictable', 'unexpected' and 'not noticed', but the possibility of such errors is extremely small.

It is precisely because of this upper limit that too large a biological reaction will become slow. If it is like the ultimate void behemoth, which is comparable in size to a super red giant star, even if it is attacking the opponent, it will be able to attack at most. It only caused the opponent's instinctive counterattack in the relevant area. Because of the overblown thinking system, its core thinking center could not even accept and process the information that it was attacked.

But if Joshua's thinking communication and information transmission medium become faster than the speed of light, then it can be said that his thinking speed and reaction speed can be improved without limit! Even if his body is as huge as a galaxy, as long as the superluminal medium is enough, he can instantly respond to any information from the outermost part of his body! The bigger his thinking organ is, the faster his thinking speed will be. Joshua can even divide his thinking center into hundreds or thousands of pieces and place them in every corner of the multiverse, and he can still guarantee his thinking ability !

This is the horror of the superluminal thinking medium. The unlimited increase in thinking speed will make Joshua gradually become an existence beyond the ordinary material world. For legendary powerhouses, it is also an instant microcosmic particle impact and splitting phenomenon , to him it was just slow motion... Of course, this is the most perfect situation, in fact, this is impossible to accomplish in a short period of time.

Because this special tachyon only exists in Joshua's body, and the world in Joshua's body has not yet been developed, and the quality of his body is limited. This extraordinary particle, and then the ability to rapidly increase the speed of one's own thinking.

But now, Joshua can already use this super-light speed information transmission ability to ensure that he can communicate with his family members in the world of Mycroft in real time in the void or even at the other end of the multiverse, and the ability to transmit information. , unless the enemy also possesses quantum entanglement-level attack means, no one can destroy the warrior in an instant.

As long as there are enough superluminal media, he can even maintain the transmission of information all the time. Even if an incarnation is eliminated, his body can receive information like other incarnations.

At this time, Joshua and Nostradamus were still playing cards and chatting. The two began to chat about the plan to clear the Black Forest. For the major forces, this was the biggest move in the recent period.

"Israel means to make the Black Forest an imperial breeding farm that can safely produce all kinds of monster resources, and everyone else wants to make the Black Forest a back garden. To accomplish this goal, you must We must suppress and eliminate all dangerous groups of monsters in the Black Forest."

The old mage's health is only 3 points now, and the creatures on the field have also been emptied. It can be said that it is a candle in the wind, and it is in danger. On the other hand, Joshua still has 20 points of life, and there are as many as five creatures on the field. Creatures, the old mage can be directly defeated in the next round.

But Nostradamus didn't seem to care at all, he said with a smile: "If you make a move, we can rest assured, but Joshua, I must remind you, don't kill too much, what we want is a safe Black Forest , not a piece of white ground!"

"...do I look so vicious?"

Joshua was quite speechless about this: "I've always thought that I'm a kind-hearted, kind-hearted person with a sense of justice. How could I wreak havoc."

Regarding this, Nostradamus only said one word: "Ural Plain." Immediately, Joshua could only sigh, to ensure that he would not go too far, and accidentally wash the Black Forest at the edge of the empire into Baidi—after all, in order to search for the Temple of the Mother Earth, the earth-shaking Ural Plain was stirred up by warriors and the ecological balance has not yet been restored.

But at this moment, a trace of information came from the information terminals of both of them. Joshua and Nostradamus were slightly taken aback, and then they both learned the corresponding information through the information terminals.

"Have you found the gathering place of the Boros python? That's right. In this way, I can suppress it immediately, lest they sense the legendary aura and flee in all directions, causing great damage for no reason."

The corner of the soldier's mouth curled up. He seemed very satisfied with the efficiency of Priest and the others: "The exploration team cooperated very well. I think they can try to explore the real void world."

"Well, that's true."

Regarding this, Nostradamus also clapped his hands in satisfaction. Compared with Joshua, he was more pleased with the growth of the younger generation: "These young people are only a little short of accumulation, and they can achieve the golden realm. Compared with our generation, it will be a lot faster."

"After all, the current resources are much richer than those of decades ago. The average height of the new generation of empire residents is 8 centimeters higher than that of fifty years ago."

Joshua casually reported a number, and he reminded: "My round is over, hurry up and play your cards or admit defeat."

"No hurry, no hurry."

Now the cost of both sides has reached 10 mana, and Nostradamus has only three cards left in his hand, there are no creatures on the field, and the HP is only 3 points - no matter how you look at it, it looks like he is going to lose However, the old mage still drew a card from the card pool unhurriedly, and then said with a smile: "The victory or defeat has just begun—my turn, play a card."

Then, he played the card on the far right in his hand!

Hum———The low roar of magic power sounded, and at the moment this card was played, the half field belonging to Nostradamus instantly turned into a blue magic field, and in this countless In the turbulent blue field, a phantom of a mage with white hair and white beard appeared on the field like this. It is the human form of the old version of Nostradamus!

On the goblin card table, the old version of Nostradamus opened the magic book in his hand, and suddenly, three cards flew out of it and entered the hand of the old mage.

[Shadow of Time and Space Nostradamus (Mage Legend)]

[10 fees, 4 attacks, 4 life]

[Arrival: Put three 'Time and Space Distortion' into your hero's hand]

[Curtain Call: Eliminate all 'space-time distortion', no matter where it is]

【——Hiding behind endless space-time ripples, a wise and mysterious shadow】

The white-haired mage stood in front of the space-time crack, melting into the void, behind which was the looming void observatory. He is looking into the distance.

[Time-space distortion, legendary spell, 8 fees]

【In this game, every time you use a spell card, the cost of that card will be reduced by 1】

[After using it, before the next round of your own side, you will get the state of 'time-space distortion', you and all your units receive 1 point of magic damage, and 0 points of summoned creatures and weapon attacks. This effect does not stack. 】

【—Your attack is infinitely close to me, but it will never reach me. 】

After Joshua saw Nostradamus playing this card, his eyes widened immediately: "Wait, your own legendary card?! When did it come out? There hasn't been a new expansion pack recently!"

"Some time ago, those goblins invited me to do it."

Nostradamus touched his beard with a smile, and then calmly played a 'Time-Space Distortion' that had been reduced to 0 cost: "I can see it, you have a spell card that destroys the effect and directly Without any damage spells, I will be invincible for the next three rounds."

Joshua glanced at his all-weapon and charge-creature quick-play deck, and nodded slightly, acknowledging what the other party said.

In the next two rounds, Nostradamus used two cards of 'Extremely Explosive Magic? Explosion' and two cards of 'Time-Space Distortion' in succession, causing 10+10 points of damage to Joshua's hero, successfully completing the Jedi fight back.

[Extreme Explosion Magic? Explosion, 10 charges, Mage White Crystal Epic]

【Cause 10 points of damage】

【--boom! 】

"Okay, the fun game is over."

After clicking on the voice of the game hero, "I'm convinced that I lost to you", Joshua stood up and said, "Now that the information has been collected, it's time for me to go back and make preparations to clean up the Black Forest."

"Well, I actually cheated this time. After all, my legendary card has not been officially released yet."

In this regard, Nostradamus shook his head, and he said strangely: "Didn't those goblins find you? Obviously the main manufacturers of goblin card tables are in Moldavia, so I thought your cards were finished." , this time I intend to see what effect your card has."

"Of course I'm here, as for my legend card."

When he said this, Joshua, who had already got up, couldn't help but smiled: "That little goblin insisted on following me personally, saying that he wanted to watch me clean up the Black Forest and determine my strength before he could be used in several designs. Finalize."

"That's really looking forward to it."

After finishing speaking, Nostradamus, who was sitting on the chair, waved to Joshua who turned to leave: "See you at the time of action... By the way, Joshua, let me say it again, don't focus too much on cleaning the Black Forest." Those monsters are gone, they are not our real target."

"Of course I won't forget."

Hearing these words, Joshua, who had already reached the door of the living room, stopped in his tracks. He turned his head and said with a smile: "Recover the last remaining limbs of the evil god 'Feng Yu' in the world, purify the residual power of chaos, and completely eliminate The beacon left by the evil god in this world."

"This is the real purpose of the major forces joining forces to clean up the central Black Forest."

It was too hot yesterday, I was in a coma due to the heat, today 8800 is a supplement to yesterday’s update

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