Soul of Searing Steel

According to research and deduction conducted by the many scholars of Mycroft, every ability of Extraordinary individuals would grow after they had ascended to Legend, intrinsically linked with innumerable aspects of the world's Bottom Theorem.

The so-called Bottom Theorem certainly was nothing excessively conceptualized like 'Rule of Flame' or 'Domain of Light'. Every aspect about it holds actually data, such as speed of light in vacuum, gravitational constant, mass of electrons, protons, neutrons and so forth… Naturally, those were just the physical constants, and apart from them were many other concepts belonging to Bottom Theorem, such as calculation for thinking of intelligent beings, actual process of nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, as well as the formation of macromolecular compounds.

Even how a civilization and society was established and how it stabilizes counted as part of Bottom Theorem for the Extraordinary individuals of Mycroft. In other words, any data, technique, axiom, theorem or even social study would help improve ability of Extraordinary abilities. For them, the most important of training was to convert such 'knowledge' to actual 'power'.

And Joshua was now training.

His clone was standing right beneath the giant silver cocoon at the center of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, although his consciousness had already entered the cocoon and controlled its movements. Thus, the little mountain cocoon which diameter was over two hundred meters began to slowly rise into the air. The dimensions around it rippled, as if intending to leave the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds.

Through it all, the Commanding Will of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds watched as the cocoon left, until it entered the Void.

***

The edge of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, the Void beyond worlds.

A projection of Joshua's mind appeared in the cocoon. He stared as the Steel Nebula in his body swirled, shrinking and slowly assembling at the glittering silver crystallization. When it entered the Void, the crystal itself had completely twisted and sloped as if broken, although there were unusual light emanating from the edge of the twists, manifesting their existence.

Commonly speaking, Steel Strength would not have actual form since it was an existential force between object and energy, and would only manifest when it declined, transitioning into an object. But now, the pure crystal was formed—if anyone was aware of the sight when worlds were born, or recently witnessed the instant where countless newborn nebulas in the Void Vortex, he would know that the silver crystals were in fact the product of Steel Strength being condensed to the maximum. There were no words to describe them, as if they contained all mysteries in the world.

In the second he studied the crystal, Joshua had an epiphany: there were three paths ahead for him, paths related to Steel Strength that once appeared in the Multiverse.

The first path was the path of life. With the Steel crystal as his living core, spawning the purest and most profound lifeform—such was the path of Herlas, the path of Void behemoths. Its endgame was a galaxy-class lifeform that was hundreds of times more massive than planets, although the excessive mass would crumble by itself into countless splinters of Steel Strength crystallization. Those crystallizations would become new worlds, spawning complete ecospheres while some becoming new Void Behemoths. Such was the spawning cycle of Behemoths, but unlike naturally born Void Behemoths, these sublimated Extraordinary specimens would be far more powerful.

The second path was the path of creation. The Extraordinary individual would use the Steel Strength crystallization as an energy core to build the most detailed and complex models of living things, mastering the creation of all things and developed an ecosphere out of thin air—such was the path of Ancient Dragons, and it would end with becoming the Creators of countless worlds and countless divine myths. As long as one had sufficient Steel Strength reserves, one could even create a living plane in the Void.

Some living planes were perhaps certainly made by 'Creators'. They would wander amidst the Void, journeying past one dead world after another before spreading seeds of life, birthing races, and civilizations… Certainly, no civilization had observed 'Creator-class' beings, and the Ancient Dragons already embodied the limit of creating life.

The third path was the path of worlds.

Extraordinary individuals who reached this path would use the Steel Strength crystallization as a core to create a small world, and its size would be determined by the individual's Steel Strength reserves… And Joshua knew nothing beyond that.

The third path was certainly filled with unknowns when compared to the first and second path that had actual examples and people implementing them. Joshua did not know if anyone had even taken that path, nor did he know what the end of the road appeared to be.

He was not even sure what he would look like after creating such a world. Could he ascend as a new Steel Python? Or an amateur 'Creator'? Who knows.

Nevertheless, Steel Pythons were born after worlds and civilizations. They were not creators of worlds, but a Will spawning out of the world itself—the Fairy Queens themselves were actually much closer to the Steel Pythons, having maintaining an artificial plane in the Void with their own power and kept molding it after the shape of an ordinary world. They were the only ones Joshua knew had taken the Third Path.

"Definitely have to visit the fairies when I have the time." Joshua could not help feeling wonder at the thought. "Extraordinary races that could innate master such power had certainly walked further than humans in such respect."

Indeed, Joshua did not choose the first and second paths with distinct examples and user, never hesitating to assumed the third path which was almost completely unknown—one no one had taken and its end indeterminate. The reason was simple: the power obtained from the first and second path were known and definitive, but the limit of that power at its very limit was a genuine, profound celestial being, becoming a Creator who could whimsically produce planes.

But those would not realize the ideals Joshua held, which were simply too many and vast implications.

He wished to purge the Evil Gods, learn the reason for their birth.

He wanted to head toward the heart of the Multiverse, to find the Saint and inquire after his goals.

He would explore the cycle of torment that exists between Order and Chaos within the Multiverse, understanding the causality behind.

And then there was the warrior's most naïve, most arrogant ideal: to change the Multiverse.

***

The Multiverse was overwhelmingly dark and gloomy. The more Joshua traveled between different worlds, the more he realized the fact… moving amidst the Void were Behemoths that could wrought calamity at any moment, Evil Gods that devoured worlds and civilizations while moving alongside the Great Mana Tide, as well as long destroyed Abysses, dragging their near-death corpses and holding on to their last breath, even invading other civilizations—along with many Void calamities that happened for unknown reasons, severing worlds and galaxies, preventing the light of the Flame from illuminating the distance.

Joshua remembered many of them: Leviathan the Void Behemoth on Kronos, the specter of the Evil God of Calamity on Illgner, the Abyssal Coalition that invaded Mycroft in the preexistence, as well as the Helm's memory of a supernova burst that pushed a planet into a star… Those were things that happened without a doubt, and were playing out at some corner of the Multiverse in any given moment.

However, it was under such terrible environment that Orders and Civilizations maintained their butchery over each other. Those plunderers who came out of nowhere to steal the Ancient Dragon's power notwithstanding, Simboa's civilization had nearly been wiped out at the hands of their own strongest champion: for a feeble reason, the most talented hero who could have been a great aid in fighting against Evil God and Chaos had become a foe who sealed the future. To even go through one such event would leave anyone despondent.

That was why Joshua wanted to change the Multiverse. It was not to simply purge Evil Gods and demons, but a more fundamental uprooting of causes that birthed Chaos and Abyss… The Sage's power Karlis had mentioned, a threshold which added a brand-new Extraordinary power in the Multiverse had given Joshua a hint of possibility and hope.

If the Sage could create Holy Light—a power so widely used out of nothing, why could he not utterly remove the source of destruction from something to nothing?

There would be one day that his flame would spread across the Multiverse, illuminating all civilization and Order!

Naturally, Joshua was aware that the third path might not grant him the power he needed, and it would be a long time even before it would. At present, he just had to take the first step by creating that small world.

Inside the giant cocoon was a Void that was completely separated from the outside. Fattrovi's control of Simboa's time had taught Joshua much, which was why he deliberately used his body as a wall to encircle a part of the Void—as the only observer in there, all information was in his control, and it was unquestionably the best place to create a new world.

A silver nebula was swirling within rapidly and distinctly, and at its center was a crystallization that simply 'existed' between reality and illusion, and was neither physical nor energy. It was the Core of Absolute Steel Strength, containing ninety-eight percent of mass and energy from Joshua's true form.

Everything in the world had mass, and in turn gravity. Even the smallest of fundamental molecules had gravity, capable of distorting and cause the Void to be depressed. Such as the essence of gravity—the greater the mass, the greater distortion, depression, and gravity.

The Steel Strength crystallization was neither degenerate matter nor black hole, but its very presence caused a hollow in the Void and turning it into the shape of a funnel. It was not because it embodied extreme mass, but because it was the hollow itself—and while the crystallization could degenerate into an object, it would obtain mass that cause the Void to depress, although that was not a singular matter.

Steel Strength is the power that created worlds. When it degrades it would form basic molecules of all things, but before that it would transmute into various unique Authority, according to the wielder's wish. As long as that power existed, it would never stop distorting the world and the Void, just as concentrated condensation of Steel Strength would directly trigger Creation.

And now, Joshua had to form the phenomenon of creation to crumble that distortion and completely seal the 'funnel', becoming an independent space with the 'crystal' at its center—the shape of a new world.

"But it's not enough. Steel Strength is not sufficiently concentrated to animate World Creation."

Joshua's mental projection shook its head when he sensed the present state of the crystallization.

That was actually normal since what allowed Joshua to develop was the widespread World Creation in the Void Vortex. At the time, infinite Steel Particles had gathered, seemingly considering Joshua the shape of world and wildly streaming concentrated Steel Strength into him. If Joshua did not resist then, he would have lost his self-consciousness by now and became the shape of a world, wafting along with the Void Vortex.

It was precisely then that Joshua decisively severed the influx of Steel Strength, allowing him to keep his will and attain the chance for his will to dominate the process of World Creation. However, it was also exactly the reason Joshua's current stores were not enough and temporarily unable to create a world.

Nevertheless, the warrior had expected that. That was why he sent his true form, the giant cocoon into the Void, in turn collecting the unowned Steel Particles floating amidst the Great Mana Tide and slowly enriching his stores.

***

At the outer walls of Mycroft, due to the tremendous world of the world itself, endless Great Mana Tide shroud was gathering towards the surface of the world. Those energy waves that originated from the heart of the Multiverse or perhaps other dead worlds assimilated into the world bit by bit, thickening the energy concentration of the world.

And not far away from the outer walls of the world was a silver cocoon, floating where the energy shroud was most concentrate, while pounding like a creature's heart. Each throb would draw in substantial energy shrouds of the Great Mana Tide, with some residual energies excreted after the Steel Particles within were filtered away. The cocoon was clearly and incessantly ejecting, just as the energy shrouds that revolved around it thickened to the point it could not be seen.

"Come to think of it, my substantial absorption of Steel Particles might even reduce the speed Authority spread, calming the process of Awakenings."

The silver cocoon, controlled Joshua, orbited around Mycroft like a small satellite, and the warrior could not but laugh. "An unexpected gain."

After confirming the trail where the giant silver cocoon would take and established plans for the absorption operation, Joshua no longer heeded his true form, and his will returned to the clone inside the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds.

Collecting Steel Particles was an extended process without an environment like the Void Vortex. But overall, such power was easier to grasp, and it would be a great start to his future creation of a world.

Moreover, it was not as if Joshua gained nothing.

In the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, Joshua's clone raised both his hands, where two translucent glass crystals appeared simultaneously in his palms. Staring at them, he streamed his strength and illuminated the one on this right, causing it to emit incandescent, white radiance.

At the same time, the crystal on his left hand shone as well—and it was not 'almost', but 'simultaneously'!

It should be noted that even light needed time to cross the distance of a single meter. In the real world, most things that seemed to happen at the same time would occur in chronological arrangement on a minuscule scale, and 'simultaneously' almost did not exist.

Almost.

"Not bad… Looks like I have my reward in advance of successful World Creation."

Joshua nodded, satisfied as he looked at what was happening in his palms.

Although the Steel Strength crystal inside the warrior's true form could yet evoke creation of worlds, its existence alone could distort part of reality, allowing Joshua to create principles that ill-fitted the World through various principle and theorems he knew—laws that applied only inside his body that went again common sense.

But what Joshua first created was not a material that did not exist in the real world.

It was a brand-new particle that completely adhered to the 'Quantum Entanglement Theory', capable of information delivery beyond lightspeed!