Soul of Burning Steel

Starfall 839, March 29th, Wanjie Sacrificial Site, Salt Sea Plain.

This is a desolate place without any geological features. A natural disaster-level magic strike in the war in the past will build a large-scale magic building here. [Hainamut Prophecy Hub] is completely wiped out from the surface, and the rest Melted everything, and finally cooled and condensed into plains covered with poisonous crystal salts.

However, the "Heinamut Prophecy Hub", which originally collected multiverse-level information and then calculated, and even predicted the future, did not have any omens for this.

Regardless of the details of past wars, great changes have taken place in the Salt Sea Plain today. More than a year ago, when the Starfall Mycroft civilization began to redevelop the Ten Thousand Worlds Sacrifice Field, several legendary powerhouses took action. , to forcibly degrade all the toxic substances on the plain, and the natural teacher cooperated with the elf queen to give the blessing of natural divine power to this place, so that a special extraordinary plant that can live in a high acid-base environment began to germinate on this land .

A year has passed, and green has spread on the plain reflecting the flash of crystal salt. Judging from this growth rate, it will take decades for them to spread throughout the Ten Thousand Worlds Sacrificial Field.

However, behind this piece of green, there are deeper secrets buried.

Just below that small piece of vibrant green plants, three kilometers deeper than their root systems, there is a strange and completely man-made underground cavity, which presents a perfect hemispherical shape, with flat ground and The dome has a spectacular curvature, and layers of dark green plant roots support this super-giant cavity with a radius of five kilometers. You can see countless vines hanging from the plant dome, forming a sturdy iron roof. column.

This is the base used by the natural teacher to transform the natural environment of the entire Ten Thousand Worlds Sacrificial Field, a super-giant natural field deep underground—in other words, the interior of the cavity is actually the 'body' of the natural teacher.

"Be careful, you won't damage any rhizomes or vine posts."

Guided by the force of nature, Joshua walked into this cavity, and he heard Galannord's voice obviously carrying a joke: "Otherwise, I would be in pain."

"I'll pay attention." The man replied seriously—this made the teacher of nature quite boring. After chatting with the warrior here, her will returned to the main body in the world of Mycroft.

And Joshua walked towards the center of the underground dome, a huge wooden research institute.

With Joshua's speed, he quickly entered the research institute, and he could see many elf scholars rushing through the various laboratories and information banks, without even noticing the arrival of the soldiers - Joshua directly Walking towards the No. 2 large-scale practice office located in the center of the research institute, he opened the door without hesitation, and then asked the people inside: "How's the result?"

Everyone in the practice had known about Joshua's arrival when he entered the cavity, so they were not surprised. They could see that William, the spiritual master, and Stanley, the psionic legend, were whispering to the soul model floating in the center of the room. While talking about technical issues, a black-haired young man named Wuming from the Siberian world was in front of the model, carefully reading an analysis report.

Hearing Joshua's words, Wuming, who is now his employee, was the first to raise his head. He nodded first, then shook his head: "It's hard to say."

"Is there still no way?"

Hearing this sentence, Joshua couldn't help frowning, and walked to the front of the soul model: "The problem of the guardians of the big information base...is it really that serious?"

It can be seen that the phantom of the soul model placed in the center of the room is not what a normal human being should be. Its various parts show various strange changes, some places proliferate, some places shrink, and some parts swell too much, even Completely erase the soul structure of other parts.

"Their souls have indeed been completely, almost irreversibly distorted and alienated..."

Wuming raised his head from the report, several weeks of high-intensity work made his body a little tired, but his eyes were still full of energy.

He didn't exchange greetings with Joshua, but directly raised the report in his hand and handed it to Joshua: "It's really unimaginable that someone would transform their soul and body into such a terrifying appearance—I'd rather I thought the soul puppet was the limit."

"Moreover, even soul puppets are forced to be transformed by others, but these people take the initiative to attack themselves. This kind of determination and cruelty is really shocking."

"But this situation is not incurable."

The first practice office is responsible for the environmental transformation and planning of the Ten Thousand Worlds Sacrificial Site. The second practice institute opened later is responsible for the rescue of the guards in the unified information base and the follow-up treatment.

More than half a year ago, after the black mist mother body was sealed by the Mycroft gods and many legends, they discovered the demiplane entrance located in the black hole accretion disk of World No. 1. After a lot of effort, all the gods Finally, the large information base was moved back to the Ten Thousand Realms Sacrifice Ground, where it existed as the 'moon' of the plane of the sacrifice ground.

After opening the information bank, everyone who was about to meet their compatriots who had been away for thousands of years was surprised to find that in order to survive the extremely harsh environment around the black hole, the guards of the big information bank resolutely inflicted a lot of terror on themselves, even called This transformation allows them to maintain their 'survival' as much as possible while maintaining a certain degree of sanity and inheritance of knowledge, which is just survival. There is no doubt that this transformation almost made them almost non-human.

In order to save these compatriots who have paid too much, the major forces have little disagreement, and decided to join forces for treatment, reverse contact with the consequences of various transformations, and restore the guards of the big information base to normal humans. At the beginning, we encountered a big problem, that is, after thousands of years of continuous long-term transformation, this distorted soul and body shape have been fixed, they are 'born for this', not the result of subsequent transformation, in the face of these The descendants of the original large information base guards, even legends can hardly guarantee to rescue them while maintaining the original will of the opponent.

The former nameless mechanic, the current nameless 'Lotlam' was originally a high-level mechanic specializing in soul puppets, and he had read through a lot of soul science classics of the Siberian civilization. In the past half a year, he has been supported by Joshua Absorbing the knowledge of soulology and necromancy from the world of Mycroft, he is now regarded as an authoritative person in this field, so he was invited by the second practice to carry out rescue work as a technical foreign aid.

"Can it be cured?"

Joshua couldn't help being a little excited after hearing Wuming's answer—others called him Lotlam. He asked, "What should I do specifically?"

At this time, William and Stanley, who were originally communicating on the sidelines, two spiritual and spiritual legends, ended their communication with each other, and everyone had no politeness, and went directly to the topic of conversation. Among them, William was familiar with Joshua, so he took a step forward, pointed to the soul model and said firstly: "To be honest, this kind of solidification transformation carried out by connecting souls together is very terrifying. In essence, it is similar to the most extreme The 'blasphemy curse', and then distort the body of the transformed person, this kind of boldness is really amazing-you see, even the core of the soul has been eroded."

Afterwards, the psionic legend Stanley, a meticulously groomed, serious and majestic old man took over the conversation, and said with a frown: "So we think that you need to join hands with us, and at the same time work on the stairs and the soul, Through the connection between the two, reactivate the self-healing instinct of the body and soul when transforming the body, and grow into a complete soul."

On the other side, Wuming also nodded and said: "But this is just the beginning - after the souls have been roughly repaired, we have to replace them with a new body to warm up the fragile body that is almost healed. The soul, the original body has been modified too badly, it is not suitable for normal human souls to live in."

"As far as I am good at, I personally recommend creating a puppet body for them. Although the flesh and blood body is full of vitality, it is not stable enough...I hate this technology, but it does have advantages."

After speaking, the three of them began to discuss the various characteristics of the soul again. Joshua could only shake his head and remind them: "You are experts, so I won't discuss the specific treatment process, but then In the next few days, one of my incarnations will be in the Ten Thousand Realms Sacrifice, and you can summon me if you need it."

After speaking, he didn't pay attention to the thank you from several people, but looked at the distorted human figure on the other side of the soul model.

That is the modeling of the current body of the guards of the big information base—a limp lump of flesh that roughly looks like a human being, but actually has no bones.

Thousands of years ago, the unified large information base was kicked out of its own world.

Among them, the surviving guardians used the most extreme methods to transform their bodies and souls in order to adapt to the harsh environment of perennial darkness, strange gravity, ultra-high radiation, and few material resources.

They use almost curses, or even curses, to deform their bodies and distort their souls. They engrave all the knowledge and common sense they need in their blood and soul, and in the memory of themselves and their descendants, so as to ensure that they can survive almost forever. The maintenance of this knowledge is used to repair the corruptions and omissions in the big information base to maintain its existence.

But because of this, their flesh became shapeless oozes, since low gravity does not require bone for support and does not need to consume large mineral resources. Their body surface is covered with sarcomas, ganglia and strange tentacles and fungi, and they don't look like a human at all. This form even makes them forget the things of 'walking', 'seeing', 'listening' and 'eating' What is common sense, because they have no legs, no eyes, no ears and no mouth.

They wriggled and floated, adsorbing themselves to the ground, relying on energy perception and spiritual communication to observe the world, and absorbing the nutrients in the germ bed through the pits and sarcoids on the outer skin.

What a monstrous, hideous, twisted and disgusting form.

So great too.

"If we didn't find it at the beginning, we really have nothing to do."

Gazing at this ugly yet great form, Joshua whispered: "But we have found it, so we must do our best to heal it - this is one of the few things we can do for these civilization inheritors."

Joshua left the underground cavity.

The laboratory located in the natural teacher's body can simulate various natural ecological environments by virtue of the power of nature, and then conduct various practical experiments. It is a dream place for all relevant technicians. The natural teacher himself often uses his own power characteristics to carry out self-improvement Evolution, the only pity is that this ability is not suitable for fighting in other worlds. Galannord, located in the mainland, is the most powerful. The only thing that can barely reverse this disadvantage is that only like creating underground cavities In this way, a large-scale natural field is condensed.

Joshua stepped out of the 'body' of the teacher of nature, and walked in the long passage of vines. He didn't deliberately speed up, walking like an ordinary person.

While walking, he raised his head and looked at the top of the flat passage with a somewhat scattered gaze.

Starfall 839 is another new year, and many major events have happened in this year.

The world of Alpha Sanctuary has been taken out of the body of the black mist matrix by the gods. This world is now located in the center of the space-time realm where the original black mist was located, floating in that small galaxy, and the original life inside the world of Alpha Sanctuary is under special care. Protection, this is one of the few world-class laboratories that can understand the birth and evolution of life in the early days of the creation of a high magic world. It is an extremely precious source of research data and an ecological protection center.

The alpha sanctuary world rebuilt by the black mist is almost a brand new world. The high-concentration energy brought by the great demon tide has accelerated the agglomeration and development of those primitive organisms, and the microorganisms that are completely consistent with the ancestors of the sanctuary civilization have already begun to take shape.

The black mist cannot create the Creator's civilization, so it reproduces all of the Creator's race.

From the microbes to the last prototype of the Creator, it has arranged everything - under the husk of total destruction, a new world full of hope is bred.

An incarnation of Joshua has been stationed there for a long time. As long as there is a situation, he will quickly transfer the main will and wake up around the Alpha shelter.

As for the black mist.

According to Nostradamus' observations and predictions, after everyone seals the black mist matrix, there may still be some scattered black mist in the multiverse, such as the black mist that was sent to explore far away, and the black mist that was defeated and sealed by other civilizations Wait, these black mist are likely to continue to wander in the void, threatening all worlds and civilizations. He proposed to take the initiative to find the existence of these scattered black mist, and wipe them all out.

However, by analyzing the original program and structure of the black mist mother body, everyone found that it is difficult for the daughter body black mist to survive alone after losing the mother body's database and energy reserves. Because there is no self-storage structure, the daughter body black mist cannot The world, or the surrounding void vortex, cannot move freely. They need to replenish energy frequently. Most importantly, they have lost the ability to split, and if there is one less group, there will always be one less group, so they are not regarded as Advanced Threat Plan implemented.

What's more, even if the offspring mutated and became a new mother body, it would take more than a thousand years for these daughter bodies without a database to grow to the current level of the black mist mother body.

In addition, the Empire's Foreign Exploration Department launched two more exploration missions, and the luck of these two times was good. The eighteen worlds explored before and after were all safe, without any special circumstances, and there were even two primitive life forms among them. In the world, one has just developed to the point where primitive amphibious marine life set foot on land, and the other has developed to excess oxygen, and giant arthropods are criss-crossing the world.

However, because it is too primitive, except for the fact that giant arthropods are more delicious, it basically has no colonial value. In other words, it is not suitable enough. Maybe murlocs would like it better. Godard was obviously moved when he expressed his expression, but it was strange that the Golden Dragon King at that time also showed a thoughtful expression... Could it be that he likes to eat grilled crab?

Speaking of which, Joshua has confirmed one thing, that is, the current queen of the empire, the main palace of Emperor Israel, is actually regarded as the niece of this generation of Golden Dragon King in terms of seniority, but it is not surprising at all, because the last time she and the goblin While the queen was chatting, the soldiers unexpectedly learned that the entire Diamond royal family can be regarded as direct descendants of the queen's line. Of course, spiritually, the fairy imprint is still condensed in the soul of the royal family.

The bloodlines in the magical world are really chaotic. Are there no normal humans like my Radcliffe family? Joshua thought so.

Walking out of the underground cavity passage and coming to the woods of the Salt Sea Plain, Joshua did not choose to go home directly - recently, Hotaru and Rin are leading the students of Winter Castle College to organize the winter sports meeting of the college, There is also the actual combat assessment at the beginning of the year. The two referees and judges are responsible for hosting the event and arbitrating various matters.

Number 3 was also invited by the sage Faina, Nostradamus, Barbarossa and others a few days ago, using its own special form of existence to quickly analyze various encrypted data in the integrated large information base, artificially Most of the smart girl's computing power will be used in this area.

Now when the soldiers go home, at most they will eat and walk with Hei and Xiaoguang, but in fact, these two playful little devils probably sneaked out to find Ivan, Amira and others while he was away. Or go out with Lisa, Syndicate and the others to do tasks or go somewhere to play. Joshua thinks he is not a devil, and he can't bear to interrupt their entertainment, so he plans to wait until the end of the game to settle the score and increase the amount of training.

So now Joshua feels like he has nowhere to go.

But at this moment, an invisible spirit, an indescribable will emerged from the other side of the void, which only Joshua could see and perceive, and then gradually condensed into the image of a giant silver python.

The steel python Karlis appeared beside Joshua. It slowly wrapped itself around Joshua's shoulder, and asked with some doubts, "What are you thinking about, my friend?"

"I originally planned to wait for you to enter the void before coming to you, but I noticed that you have been here in a daze, so I came here on my own initiative."

After Joshua noticed the steel python, he didn't stop the other party from becoming more humane and intimate. He slowly walked in the salt sea, walking among the gray crystals... After a long time, the soldier whispered He said, "Callis, I have a question."

"Huh? Just ask." Karlis shook his head indifferently: "If I can answer, I will definitely answer."

Joshua's eyes did not pour down at all, he looked straight ahead - the empty crystal plain without ups and downs, and then said lightly: "Have you ever hated us?"

This question was obviously not in the imagination of the steel python, it couldn't help but froze for a moment, and repeated: "You?"

"Yes. Sages, the Mycroft civilization of the Glorious Era, we, the Mycroft civilization of the Starfall Era."

Joshua almost never hides his thoughts, and this time is no exception. He stepped on a piece of salt crystals and said softly: "To be more specific, you will hate and resent the evil gods who brought the evil spirits here—the Priest of the Ten Thousand Realms." Field—and the Mycroft civilization that created the sacrificial field of ten thousand worlds and opened the gate of the end?"

There was a long silence, only the rustling sound of Joshua's stepping on the crushed crystal could be heard.

A gust of wind blew up countless dust, and the steel python Karlis finally broke the long silence.

"Hate...resentment...what a human word."

It muttered in a low voice: "I have paid too much attention to civilization for too long. I can also say that I understand the will of the world of human nature very well... But how to put it, maybe you can't understand it."

Karlis turned his head slightly, and looked at Joshua, who also turned his head, and said in a strange and heavy tone: "Sages and the Age of Glory, you successors may not understand, or only understand It's one-sided, but as a contemporary I know, know a lot of things about him."

"He has helped many worlds and saved many worlds." Kallis said in a very serious manner, it seemed to be remembering, and even his eyes were a little wide: "Joshua, just like what you are doing now In doing so, the sages are always doing what they can to help the world around them."

"But in that era, the world galaxy was not as bleak as it is now. It was thriving, and countless dynamic worlds communicated and communicated with each other-naturally, there were many worlds in trouble, and sages traveled in peaceful worlds, helping those who encountered difficulties. world."

"During that time, he had a very good time and met many very interesting friends. Of course, he also encountered many very ordinary difficulties and encountered very difficult and terrible enemies."

"He fought against Chaos and evil gods more than once, and even saved many worlds several times without almost everyone knowing, but he didn't take it seriously, thinking that it was something that everyone would do, and it was nothing more than normal Little thing."

The Steel Python's tone was heavy. It tightened its body and closed its eyes: "Even he built the Ten Thousand Realms Sacrifice Ground to better help other worlds...even to help the entire world with all his strength. All civilizations in the multiverse."

"Is he a villain? Of course not. The sage is the most perfect, purest, kindest, and most powerful existence I have ever seen in my long life. He seems to exist to save this dark multiverse, He was born with countless goodwill and the authority of the world, and his power has almost no selfishness—anyone who tries to accuse him morally either has some other purpose, or his heart is so dark that he cannot see such a pure light."

Joshua listened to Karliss' words in silence. At this moment, he had stopped and stood in the middle of the salt sea plain. Looking around from here, there is a flat plain, a vast plain with no end in sight. Standing here, there are no roads, no directions, and even the boundaries between heaven and earth have disappeared.

And Karlis continued: "Of course, I said so many good things and boasted the glory of the saints so much, it doesn't mean that I don't hate."

It opened its eyes, and the red snake pupils were pure, as if burning light: "Of course I hate it."

The steel python's tone was tinged with sadness, and it whispered softly: "The Karlisians are my children, and I will never forget their extinction. No matter how many times the sages have helped me, just this one mistake is enough to make me despise others. For the enemy."

Hearing this, Joshua's hands relaxed slightly, and then clenched slightly. The soldier raised his head high, unable to see his eyes, unable to know his expression and thoughts at this time.

"but."

Carliss and Joshua raised their heads together, and after another moment of silence, it softly said: "But...

But Joshua, my Rekindle.

Did you know that no matter how deep-rooted hatred is, it is nothing but dust, an insignificant water wave in the multiverse. The more you witness the rise and fall of civilizations, the birth and death of worlds, the more you should understand this.

Sticking to this point, sticking to this dust-like hatred, and then starting to have malice towards everything around, to reject, to destroy, to destroy everything that exists like crazy - in this case, what is the difference from evil gods?

If I stick to this and cannot be freed, I will never be able to move forward and take revenge on the evil god who really destroyed my child. "

The steel python circled its body and came to the soldier's arm. It lifted the soldier's hand and looked at Joshua who lowered his head. The will of the world, Karlis, said sincerely and calmly: "Reignite the flame!" Readers, don't get entangled in this point, you don't need to care whether it is self-blame or hatred in my heart, and you don't need to care about my attitude towards the sages and the glorious era.

You just have to keep moving forward, keep getting stronger, and do what you're doing now—helping a world in trouble, destroying the plot of Chaos—and that's enough, enough.

I will help you with all my strength, we will help you with all our strength, and all great wills will be watching you, as they watched the saints, watching you go your own way. "

Karlis's head gradually approached Joshua's forehead, it stopped talking, and a gentle, majestic, calm and grand will extended towards Joshua.

——This is a contract without words, a promise without words——

Forehead to forehead, colorless light began to rise in the center of the salt sea plain.

--please--

kill all evil gods

destroy all chaos

Those who rekindle the flame, fulfill your covenant with steel and fire, please burn out the darkness and evil, and become a light in this desperate multiverse.

Light us up like a torch and light the way ahead.

————

The unremarkable light dimmed.

Joshua and Karliss' foreheads parted.

"I see."

The soldier said softly. He raised his head and looked at the end of the world. Joshua put the Karlis wrapped around his hand on his shoulder.

very heavy—

It obviously doesn't have any quality, it's just a pure spiritual body.

But still very heavy.

It is incomparably heavy, as if there is a whole world of cause and effect placed there.

But this feeling is not unfamiliar.

Because behind the fighters, there are many worlds.

Karliss, Irgnar, Blood Moon Abyss... One after another, phantoms emerged and dissipated. Grandia, Kronos, Siberia... One cause and effect entanglement after another.

They turned into long chains, turned into heavy rocks, and were dragged forward by Joshua. To this day, an unknown amount of time has passed. But now, it's just adding a sanctuary civilization and black mist, which doesn't affect anything, because the soldier's goal has never been changed from beginning to end, and he clearly knows what kind of land and road he is stepping on. .

"Listen, I didn't decide to eradicate all evil gods for you."

"I went because I wanted to go."

Joshua said lightly, causing Karliss to laugh softly, and at the same time, he stepped forward.

This is a step that has nothing to do with any cause and effect, any guilt, any burden or responsibility. Joshua only took this step for himself, and the warrior will continue to walk like this until the end that no one knows.

Yes.

He's going to do something.

And these things will change the world.

Then, what exactly happens.

That, is the next story.

Those who can do things do things, and those who can speak out speak out. There is a little heat, and there is a little light. Just like a firefly, it can shine a little light in the dark.

No need to wait for the torch. Since then, if there is no torch, I am the only light.

I like this sentence of Mr. Lu Xun very much. From here, the volume of Eternal Darkness is completely over. By the way, the title should be I Am the Torch, but I made a typo.

In each volume, I want to express some thoughts and expound some spirits, and I carefully write those thoughts and introductions in the introduction of the volume, but I don’t know how I write and how readers will understand it.

I will try my best to write what I want to write, which makes me feel the burning spirit, and this is one of the original motivations for the book Soul of Burning Steel.

Ask for a ticket.