Soul of Burning Steel

On the coast and at the pier, all the busy elf fishermen raised their heads and looked up at the dark sky that was gradually getting darker.

In the sky, the orange sun that had just risen has been covered by the flowing clouds. Countless water vapor clouds gathered from all directions to the place where the shadows emerged. A deep and loud sound could be heard reverberating above the entire world.

"What is this?"

However, facing the sudden coercion from the sky, although the deer crown elf looked shocked, his tone was still calm. He frowned and said in a low voice: "It's kind of like a big crab..."

Compared with just being surprised and confused, it seems that he doesn't quite understand the meaning behind this scene. He should just regard it as a stag-crowned elf with a similar celestial phenomenon to the 'solar eclipse', but Priest is yelling in his heart.

——This, this is obviously the group of octopus fungi who came here!

how so fast ! Damn, if they break through the world barrier, we won't be able to find a place to hide... Are we going to seek shelter at the Acrafa hub? !

The continuous sound of thunder and bombardment reverberated at the top of the sky. At first, Priest was extremely nervous and tried his best to think of countermeasures, but soon he found that no matter how hard the crab claws bombarded, the sky would be destroyed. But without the slightest change and bending, it is still as stable as ever.

The bombardment of the giant pincers was loud and thunderous, with little rain, or even no rain at all... After a while, it seemed that the barriers of this world could not be broken at all, and the crab pincers just left.

"Ah, this kind of thing happens often, don't be too surprised, you humans have a short lifespan, and you may have lost this knowledge."

The deer crown elf noticed Priest's face, and comforted him: "Similar things have happened twice in my life. The first time was more than 120 years ago. The shadows floated in the sky and hit the dome desperately, and the second time was more than fifty years ago, it was a group of small fish-like miniature phantoms colliding, they all collided for a long time, but they all failed."

Noticing Priest's eyes widened and staring at him with incomparable astonishment, the deer crown elf straightened the deer crown on his head with some doubts, and said: "This is just my memory. There are more in the mother tree's memory. I’m not very surprised, I’m just wondering why it turned into a crab claw this time... Is it really the same as the ancestors said, is there a boundless ‘sea of ​​void’ outside the sky? Seafood It's rich enough."

The fishing and hunting elves around also noticed the vision in the sky, but most of the elves continued to work after pointing to the sky. Everything was just like what the deer crown elves said. This scene was not for them. not fresh.

"Mistake, we don't understand the ecology of this world at all, and we don't understand at all what kind of environment these elves survived... And the shell of this world is too strong, right? According to this elf, it is obviously Void behemoths have tried to invade several times, but all of them have returned in vain!"

Only now did Priest realize that he and his teammates may have made a big mistake.

That is to bring the impression of the Mycroft elves into these elves who entered the 'unknown world'.

Although the two look very similar, in essence, the two are not the same race at all-whether it is customs, world views, or the essence of life, they have long since parted ways after an unknown period of evolution.

Thinking of this, Priest immediately made up his mind to take this opportunity to ask the stag-crowned elves some common-sense customs.

"Are you asking about our past? To be honest, if I don't connect with the mother tree, I don't remember much."

After hearing Priest's question, the stag-crowned elf led him to walk slowly along the coconut grove on the coast, and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Actually, there is nothing to say, the first ancestors gave life After the mother tree was planted in the very center of our homeland, it died of a foreign world disease, and we relied on the protection of the mother tree and our united mind to reproduce on this land, generation after generation, until now."

"This is indeed a good place. There are coconut palms by the sea, many berry bushes and fruit trees in the forest, and a lot of herds. Except for foreign diseases and occasional foreign monsters, we hardly have any enemies. .”

As he spoke, the deer crown elf picked up two coconuts about the size of three fists from the sandy land along the coast, and handed one to Priest. He said softly, "In this way, we will reproduce from generation to generation and live peacefully in the Here, until now...this is our history."

Priest silently poked two holes in the coconut with his fingers, and then took a sip.

Coconut juice has a mild taste, but it is very fragrant, very refreshing, pure and pollution-free, and of high quality.

It can be seen that many elf fishermen who are tired from fishing just pick up one or two coconuts on the beach. After drinking and resting for a while, they start working again.

The elves' boats can only accommodate two or three people, and are at most ten meters long. This kind of boat can only be driven in rivers and lakes. Even on the coast, it is very dangerous and cannot catch fish at all. With a bit of extraordinary power, with the stability of magic, they can not only move freely along the coast, but even occasionally go to the deep sea to induce fish schools.

Since fish and seafood are not the staple food, the consumption of two or three thousand elves is not even as fast as the natural recovery of this sea area. Many fishermen have only worked for an hour or two, and they have already caught food for the whole family in the next week or two-these are absolutely amazing. Most of them will be made into dried fish as a winter reserve.

Some fishermen have already begun to bask in the sun leisurely.

"... How long have you guys been living like this?"

Putting the coconut shell under the tree beside him, Priest asked softly, "Hundreds of years, or..."

"At least one or two thousand years. Maybe longer."

The deer crown elf didn't seem to care, and he replied casually: "The five generations of leaders before me have done very well. The only thing I am better than them is that I live longer."

"No, I mean, don't you think about changing?"

Priest stopped in his tracks. He looked up at the sky where the clouds had not completely dispersed, and then looked down at the quiet and peaceful sea. The hometown that was destroyed by dragons and beasts, relatives and neighbors devoured by dragons and beasts, and many more, ordinary people in the world of Mycroft are still struggling to survive.

The young warrior once again saw the chaotic erosion marks on the arm of the stag crown elf, and he remembered the long shadow on Sur's back. Priest clenched his fists and said in a somewhat suppressed voice: "You have encountered so much. Sudden visions, and chaos... alien diseases and alien monsters, haven't you thought about developing technology to solve these problems?"

"You have such a rich homeland! Such a peaceful environment! Even this world... is a bit weird, but this is a year and two thousand years, how could you still be like this? Don't you fear death and don't want to live long? a little?"

The stag-crowned elf didn't understand why Priest became a little agitated.

He just said as usual, very flat, very calm: "Technology? What is that? If it is about the craftsmanship of your armor, we really want it, so we are willing to pay the price for it."

As for other problems, just follow the steps handed down by the ancestors. "

The deer crown elf slowly buried the coconut shell in his hand into the sand, then got up and said: "The mother tree stores all the knowledge we need, after you teach us how to forge iron, we will use it Stored in the mother tree. And death is not terrible, it just becomes a new branch of the mother tree, sheltering those who are still alive.”

The deer crown elf turned his head and looked at Priest.

This is the first time that Priest has seriously, comprehensively, and carefully observed the face of the leader of the "Looker Tribe" in the true sense.

This is a face that is a little old, not like a young elf who is one or two hundred years old. His appearance is as neutral as all elves, but the roots of his long dark green hair have begun to turn black and yellow, which proves that this elf's lifespan is coming to an end, his eyes are cloudy, and his mouth is tightly closed , looked a little serious.

The most conspicuous thing is the eyes of the deer crown elf. He is now looking at Priest, but his eyes are wandering, and the two eyes even slightly turn in different directions, and his pupils are white, with magical lights flashing, making his eyes look not only Godless, even weird.

"Maybe we forgot to tell you."

Facing Priest, who was obviously wary and seemed to be leaving at any time, the stag crown elf smiled gently, without hostility, tolerance and indifference: "The spirit of our Watcher tribe is linked together through the mother tree. You We can clearly know every move you make, and we all know your attitude towards our people. You are gentle, communicative and kind, you have a sense of proportion, you have rules, and you know good and evil, so the watchers think that you are indeed worthy Human beings who trust are not alien monsters."

"……What?!"

This time, Priest really felt incredible from the bottom of his heart, he exclaimed: "You...you are connected in spirit?!"

To be honest, he has indeed heard that elves did have this ability a long time ago, but after the father of nature ascended to the gods—that is, after the birth of elves and elf gods in the true sense, this most ancient spiritual communication The power is lost to history.

These alien elves... how do they still retain this kind of power? !

Facing Priest, who seemed to be in deep thought, the Deer Crown Elf grinned, but did not speak.

After Priest calmed down, he immediately thought of something. He frowned and said, "So, Suer, is she also here to test my attitude?"

"No."

Speaking of this, the voice of the deer crown elf suddenly became a little cold. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and continued: "Sur is my daughter... She was born with a flaw. I don't know about her conversation with you, and it's not a part of testing your attitude."

The deer crown elf's originally fluent speech suddenly became a little jerky, stuttering, and his eyes became indifferent. After a long time, his tone returned to normal: "Through the mother tree, we can perceive the thoughts of each compatriot, and our moods are communicated to each other, so there will be no conflicts in our group. We are actually a family, sharing All joys, sorrows, and joys. Even alien diseases are the same."

"But Sur is different. She is isolated from the mother tree by nature and cannot communicate with the knowledge stored in the mother tree, so it takes a long time for us to teach bit by bit before she can learn the common sense of the clan. And because of this, she always walks Run outside to see those meaningless places that the ancestors have been to a long time ago. She always wants to go to far away places inexplicably to see some meaningless things, she is completely different in the clan."

"And because of this, without everyone's share, Sur was severely eroded by the foreign disease."

Speaking of this, the deer crown elf looked at Priest and said calmly: "It's the same as those humans who disappeared hundreds of years ago. The existence of unconnected spirits is absolutely impossible to resist alien diseases with their own will. Yes - our ancestors once invited human beings to join our spirit, but they refused life and death, saying that there would be no future, but they have disappeared, and we are still alive in the 'future'."

"Son of the Plain①, if you are willing to communicate with us, then you are our compatriots, not just collaborators like you are now, and we will do our best to help you."

"No, thank you, goodbye."

Priest waved his hand quickly, and he shook his head to reject the proposal. This did not seem to be beyond the expectations of the stag-crowned elf. He just nodded and brought up the topic.

The two had left the coast and started walking back along the forest road.

"……call."

Knowing too much unexpected news in such a short period of time, Priest couldn't help rubbing his temples, and after calming down for a while, he said, "Let's just call it that. As far as I know, although the foreign world disease can indeed resist erosion through the spirit of everyone in a short period of time, but in the final analysis, this erosion is irreversible. Over time, the foreign world disease will accumulate in the spirit of the entire group, and it will cause even more damage. for severe outbreaks—how did you address this?"

In fact, the will of the elves to link collectively still had a large number of users in the Mycroft Continent not long ago, and the psykers in Xishan were the most famous among them.

When the tide of magic came and the extraordinary power and technology of the world advanced by leaps and bounds, the psychics of Xishan also developed a peculiar ability of spiritual communication. They used some kind of psionic technique or a special magic center , to unite the spirits of several or even dozens of people into one, and then fight.

This technique is very effective. With the joint spirit, everyone's spellcasting speed and combat endurance have increased by 30%, and their resistance to chaos erosion is also very strong, and they even have a certain self-purification ability. Pollution will be quickly and thoroughly purified.

But just as Priest said, this combination is nothing more than slowing down the erosion of chaos. Except for the top holy light possessed by the top leaders of the Church of the Seven Gods, the unique techniques of the legends, and the power of order held by the sage inheritors, there is basically no power that can resist the erosion of chaos. It may not be conspicuous at first, but gradually , the entire psionic union will be corrupted and become a carrier of chaos.

The alien elves have been eroded by chaos for a long time. The spirit of this connection should have been corrupted long ago, but they still exist and live well and harmoniously. This is an incredible thing, so Priest wants to know The reason behind it.

"It's very simple, rely on sacrifice."

Contrary to what Priest thought, the deer crown elf revealed the secret behind it without hesitation: "Relying on sacrifices and offering sacrifices to the holy mountain, we can greatly alleviate the erosion of foreign diseases."

Afterwards, the deer crown elves revealed the secret of why their family was able to reproduce safely for so long under the erosion of chaos.

"The alien disease is a strange disease that spreads both physically and mentally. Every elf will have some roots of the disease more or less. This is something that cannot be driven away, but with the power of the mother tree, we can cure most Too many alien diseases in people are passed on to some powerful people who can bear enough alien diseases."

Speaking of this, the antler elf smiled, and said indifferently: "For example, a person like me can carry the foreign disease of hundreds of people without turning into a foreign monster for a while."

"Then what?"

Priest couldn't help asking.

"Then, it's time to go to the sacred mountain."

The Deer Crown Elf raised his head and motioned Priest to look in the direction of the Aklafa Time-Space Hub. He said calmly: "The Holy Mountain of Sacrifice has a kind of power that can completely and thoroughly purify all alien diseases. Let these redundant foreign world diseases not flow back into the mother tree after the bearer dies. Every one or two hundred years, we will select ten strong people who can carry foreign world diseases and go to the holy mountain to pray to the ancestors."

No, wait, no, this is not a sacrifice at all!

This is not purification at all... this is death.

Letting out a breath, Priest looked at the stag-crowned elf with a complicated expression. Others don't know, how could he not understand that he was almost burned to ashes by the Acrafa hub before?

Isn't the so-called purification the use of an extremely powerful flow of magic energy to completely smash the body and soul into nothingness? ! It is impossible to return to the mother tree! Being hit by that level of magic energy light flow, even the most powerful will be seriously injured and dying!

But these elves did this without fear—after one or two hundred years, they sent the most elite and powerful group of people in the clan to be purified, and the rest of them continued to live peacefully, leisurely, without any Motivated, there is no change in life.

They connect each other's spirits, and everyone can perceive each other's emotions and thoughts, without suspicion, jealousy, quarrel, or competition. The elves only need to work for one day, and they can rest for a week. They live in a suitable tropical area, and live in a cave that is warm in winter and cool in summer--it's perfect, and it's also perfect for a civilization that is just beginning to develop , Too flawless, this is a realm that none of Mycroft's elves have reached.

Even when they saw the metal armor of the elite team, they didn't think about 'researching it by themselves', but would rather exchange it with a price and put it in the mother tree for collection, just like a squirrel collects food.

They share joys, sorrows, joys and knowledge, and the technology left by their ancestors allows them to live a happy and safe life, so that these elves don't even have the motivation to progress, and there is no reason to go to explore far away.

I'm so envious.

It's so sad.

And when Priest was talking with the stag crown elf.

Beyond the world, there is endless void.

The huge hermit crab-shaped void behemoth slowly swims in the void with a semicircular star world on its back.

"The Great Khan, the fourth behemoth, discovered a strange world in the dark star field. It originally wanted to pry open a dead world and replenish some substances, but found that the barriers of that world were so strong that it was unimaginable. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to leave any traces."

At the bottom of the hive city, the eight-legged fungus with black carapace respectfully reported to a twisted spiritual void: "What instructions do you have for this?"

"...Stay away from that world, next time you encounter this special world, don't touch anything."

After waiting for a while, the spiritual void slowly sent some messages: "This is the lost galaxy. The solid world you mentioned may be the sealed world that sealed the ancient monsters. Fortunately, it has not been broken. If knocked Bro, what is waiting for us is definitely not something good."

"But the subjects need food... We have crossed the long material vacuum layer, and both the behemoths and the subjects are starving..."

The black carapace eight-legged fungus remained motionless, maintaining a 'respectful' posture, and said softly: "Great Khan..."

"Um."

There was another long silence, and then there was an almost sleepy echo: "Except, those...abnormal, outside the world... let's eat it, whether it is alive or dead, eat all of them clean ...We have endured for too long, we must stock up as much food as possible before the 'hunters' arrive..."

"This is far from our end, we still have a long, long way... go to herd, Kumosinda, my first king of the sky, go to herd the stars, and let our world become... More... fatter..."

The sound disappeared.

The black star anise fungus did not move.

After dozens of minutes, after confirming that the voice had completely disappeared, it slowly got up and walked out of the white royal court.

"Kings."

Outside the royal court, there was a team of gray star anise fungus elites waiting. When the leader saw the black fungus, he immediately rushed forward. It bent its limbs: "The Great Khan's instructions are..."

Kumosinda was silent for a moment, and after a while, he said in a tone that he didn't know whether it was heavy or happy: "Eat it. Let it go, my subjects, the Supreme Great Khan has given permission. We will Can vent to the full - go find those living, flesh-and-blood worlds to graze, let our world eat flesh and blood!"

"This galaxy will be our brand new pasture."

At the same time, the void outside Mycroft's world.

Inside a huge silver cocoon.

Joshua's will was in distress.

"A little bit of magic power, a little bit of elemental power, a little bit of ether, stir and stir... Tsk, it's mushy."

"Holy light, psychic power, and then apply a little power of order... well, it's a little loose, add a little power of steel to stick it together, and you'll be fine."

"Ah, the Force of Steel has been added!"

"boom!"

In the bright embryonic form of the world, there were various kinds of extraordinary power brilliance, but with the sudden enlargement of a silver radiance, a small explosion occurred inside the embryonic form of the world.

Joshua, who was learning how the fairy queens created the world, and had finally restored the prototype of the world to its original state, only at this time did he deeply feel that those little ones were unreliable.

"I said, how did those damn little butterflies create Fairy Town?!"

Joshua's main will has always been thinking in the silver cocoon, how to create a brand new world.

He wasn't going to use a grand self-destruction to shape the world like the Void Behemoth—the warrior lived happily and didn't want to commit suicide at all. He wants to learn from the goblins, using all kinds of steel authority and elemental power, starting from the demiplane, and improving it into a complete world bit by bit.

Of course, this process is very difficult, and it often leads to various explosions due to the inconsistency of power. Especially Joshua wanted to create a more complete prototype of the world than the Fairy Queens, so he added more elements than elements from the beginning. Many supernatural power elements.

It was really hard work.

And at this moment, Joshua sensed that his incarnation had come to the sacrificial ground of the ten thousand realms.

"Indeed, I want to ask the ruling will about Priest and the others."

Joshua looked at the bright and flawless crystallization of the power of steel in front of him, a complete prototype of the world, and then shook his head: "This, let's do it later."

Even if it is not possible to directly ask questions such as world coordinates in order to prevent the ruling will of the Ten Thousand Realms Sacrifice Ground from being shut down, Joshua, who knows the opponent's way of thinking well, understands how to communicate with this artificial intelligence.

After all, he has an artificial intelligence at home, and he has been familiar with it for so many years.

As a result, the huge will escaped from the giant silver cocoon, followed the invisible track, and descended towards the Ten Thousand Worlds Sacrificial Field.

hum.

In the Ten Thousand Realms Sacrifice Ground, the humanoid Joshua had just used the power of steel to condense his body, and then his eyes lit up, and his pressure became even more overwhelming.

"Radcliffe . . . the sage's successor."

Sensing Joshua's arrival, the silver sun of the Ten Thousand Worlds Sacrifice also flickered slightly, and a loud voice could be heard from the bottom of the soldier's heart: "Do you want to ask where your students are now? It's a pity , I have lost the database for this."

But Joshua shook his head: "No, I didn't mean to ask about this."

He said loudly in his heart: "To govern the will, I want you to tell me the truth, how many years ago is the earliest data that can be traced back in your database?"

In the common language, there are no such terms as humans, dwarves, and elves in the traditional sense. The root meaning of humans is "dwellers of the plains", dwarves are "dwellers of mountains", and elves are "dwellers of forests". Human beings call themselves humans, which means the master of all spirits, while dwarves and elves call themselves human beings, and just like humans call dwarves "dwarves", dwarves and elves call humans "dwarves" in their respective slang. Long hands and feet' and 'round ears'.

There is no self-healing setting for eggs.