Soul of Searing Steel

Although Joshua really wanted to venture into the dimensional rift right now for a new adventure, it was pretty obvious that it was not the perfect timing for him to explore the new world just yet.

At this moment, they were in the depths of a volcano and they did not carry much supplies and equipment along with them. They only brought along some equipment and instruments that were useful to their exploration. All in all, they were prepared, however, for another purpose, not for venturing into a new world.

Right now, the high temperature that could spontaneously ignite a human body, had been reduced down to the level where it could only dehydrate a human body. In other words, the temperature was reduced to the point that it could slightly be endured now. Meanwhile, Black was swimming effortlessly in the lava. The core on its chest was blazing with gold radiance, absorbing the energy from the lava.

It was twirling playfully while swimming through the lava, setting off fiery blazing waves across the surface of the vast golden-red sea of lava, splashing the lava onto the black condensed lava rack that was left behind by Joshua.

The expedition party members had already taken out a lot of equipment and recorded all of the information about the sights and environment about this place. However, they did not understand the meaning of the dimensional space in their heads, and they did not know what the world behind that dimensional rift signified. Meanwhile, Roland gave Joshua a perplexed look. As a holy knight who had reached the pinnacle of Gold tier, he could also sense that the world on the other side was unlike the plagued lands. Well, there was no intense presence of Chaos.

It would mean that the world might still be intact and had not been invaded by any of the Evil Gods. It was only due to a pure accident that it was connected to the Mycroft Continent.

“Joshua, what are you going to do?”

After taking a deep breath, the holy knight calmed himself down and whispered to the warrior, “You should know that there is a whole new world behind this door!”

A new world with infinite possibilities and unlimited future!

“Wait for the correct timing. Then we shall get ourselves ready and loaded before we venture into that world.”

However, Joshua did not hesitate at all. He responded promptly with a soothing tone, “I shall plan for the development of my territory as my priority for the moment. I will make some time from my schedule and come back here again.”

His words were extremely calm and firm. There was not even the slightest emotion spike in his tone when he spoke. The holy knight was stunned for a brief moment after he heard what the warrior said. He also had no idea how to answer the warrior.

He believed that the warrior right in front of him must know that there were a great number of resources in a completely intact world. However, his current attitude… wasn’t this warrior little too calm now?! Even a holy knight like himself who almost did not possess any urge or desire at all could not help but feel a little excited. Let alone a count!

Could it be that he wants to…

“Roland, calm down a little. Now is not yet the time to get excited.”

Meanwhile, the voice of the warrior was heard again. He laughed and said, “Do you think that I would keep this world all to myself? Do you believe that I would become an enemy of the Church of the Seven Gods because of this? You can stop fooling around with those thoughts. I’m not that stupid.”

After saying that, Joshua shook his head and said, “My dear holy knight, you really need to learn how to control your expressions and emotions. Or else, anyone could easily see through what you’re thinking in that brain of yours. Your expressions are too easy to read. In that regard, you’re so naive that you actually look cute now.”

Roland could not say a word after being criticized by Joshua. As he was infuriated, he could only use his blue eyes to stare at Joshua and see what other words the warrior would use on him.

However, Joshua suddenly changed his style and started to talk about other things, “Although it’s naive, but I will explain it to you—like a world of this sort, although it seems to be extremely valuable, it will become a world that no one would care about in a year or two.”

When the Great Mana Tide arrived, magic would begin spreading among everyone. Countless dimensional passages would be randomly be activated, connecting all worlds into one. Of all worlds, especially the [Ancient Multiverse Bridge’s Sacrificial Ground] that was floating in the Astral Realm among the Astral Stars. One must know that it was not named casually.

That was truly the center point that connected all multiverses and realms.

Meanwhile, Roland did not understand a word the warrior said. Truthfully speaking, not many people in this world could understand the words spoken from Joshua’s mouth. The holy knight frowned after hearing those words. He seemed extremely anxious. He seemed to have lost his cool that he used to show during regular days.

The warrior in front of him, Joshua, was just like his adoptive father. They seemed to know everything, well, at least most of the information and news. However, they chose to explain them with vague and unclear words, causing people who listened to them to feel an itch that was hard to endure deep in one’s heart. People who asked the questions would not be able to know where to start.

But now, Joshua did not seem to have the mood to continue explaining it.

“Get ready to leave now.”

After observing the surrounding lava and the underground empty pit, the warrior gave some thought to it and made the decision to leave.

Joshua looked around at the lava lake that seemed to have calmed down, and then he turned his head around and told all of the expedition party members, including Roland, “Currently, the most important problem has been handled. And we’ve also uncovered the truth about the reason for so many elementals to gather around here. As for the next problem, it’s not like we can just simply equip ourselves and get it sorted out. We need to make our preparations first.”

Speaking of that, he turned his head over to look at Roland. Then he softly spoke, “There’s just a few of us here. We’ll not be able to do anything over there. Even if we really cross into that world, we’ll be returning shortly. Why don’t we prepare everything we need before considering to venture into that new world then?”

Well, that was truly a practical thought though. Thinking thoughtfully about it, it did make sense. Joshua must have thought it through before he suppressed his curiosity and said that.

Roland also had to admit that the warrior spoke the truth. To venture into the dimensional rift without any preparation would only wind up satisfying their curiosities for a little while. They would not be able to do much there even if they arrived in the new world. So it would be the only wise option for them to return now.

Indeed—would it really a wise move to depart and venture into the new world to explore it now?

They had yet to know the situation on the other side. Hence, they had zero ideas what kind of environment they might be dealing with once they set foot upon the land of the new world. Although the presence of Chaos was absent, there was no friendly presence as well. Even though there was a possibility that human beings would survive on the other side, the possibility of which human beings would not survive seemed to be higher. After all, as long as the environment turned out to be a little different from this world, that little difference would cause catastrophic deviations between the two worlds.

Furthermore, based on their numbers, resources, and things they had prepared for exploration, none of these were enough for them to venture into the new world and explore. Not to mention that their main purpose of this expedition was only to explore the mythical area of the volcano. So their preparations were made based on that alone.

In the meantime, just when Roland was thinking deep, Joshua issued his last few commands for this expedition.

“Black, you stay here and guard the dimensional rift.”

The warrior turned his head around and looked at the half-dragon horse which was wading in the lava, stirring the viscous lava around as if it was having fun in a hot tub. Then he decisively gave the order, “Guard the surroundings well and let nothing enter or come out of the dimensional rift. This is your main task. As long as it’s not Supreme-tier monsters, you will definitely be able to handle it.”

“Rawgh!”

After receiving its own master’s command, the half-dragon horse responded Joshua with a loud roar.

“Lower your voice, you stupid horse!”

Violent sound waves shook the elementals and the rock walls, causing numerous rock powders to fall from the top of the pit. That really had Joshua shaken up for a bit there. He could not help but to change his attitude towards Black—if the cave really collapsed, he could still protect everyone from harm. However, if the dimension rift was buried underneath the ground, then the problem would become bigger. One should understand that they were currently right under a volcano. If the paths were completely blocked off, it would become an extremely troublesome problem for them to confirm the correct coordinates of the dimensional rift and dig a tunnel to it.

“Neigh…”

Seemingly to notice that it had done something wrong, Black lowered its voice and let out a gentle neigh. After that, it sank into the molten lava, hiding its body from everyone as if it was feeling ashamed of itself. Initially, Joshua was a little bit angry. Although, after seeing what Black did there, the warrior could not help but laugh a little.

“… It seems to have become much cleverer now. It learned how to be an ostrich. So it is afraid to be scolded by me.”

In any case, under the soft whisperings among the members of the expedition party, as they were in quite a shock, this expedition had come to an end. The mythical area of the volcano which was likely to erupt and threaten the four territories in the North had been taken care of by Joshua. Although he also unexpectedly discovered a dimensional rift while completing his task, he and his party members did not prepare well enough to venture into the new world for new explorations. Hence, they would have to temporarily retreat and wait for the next expedition.

Hence, Black was left behind in the lava pool. According to Black’s attribute list the system, Joshua found that this fellow no longer needed to consume food after it had possessed the core to replenish its energy. By soaking itself in the high-temperature lava, the half-dragon had become a hundred times more energized than before. It could even acquire power and strength from the lava continuously.

That was indeed really good. It was a good place for Black. The warrior felt somewhat pleased thinking about it.

Smelting Black Dragon was a dragon known as the giant dragon of destruction and creation. It was the true embodiment of the concept of ‘flame within water’. The lava was its field. Meanwhile, Black had inherited its bloodline and acquired its abilities to survive. That was not an odd thing at all if one should think about it.

After instructing Black to guard the dimensional rift once again, allowing nothing from the other side to enter into this world or going out from this world into the other side, Joshua and others left the cave and returned to Dark Forest Fortress.

“Well, we did not encounter any enemies this time around.”

Sitting in the conference room seat of the central tower back in Dark Forest Fortress, Ying started chatting with her brother. The silver-haired girl was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and long trousers today. Her hair was tied into a ponytail. She looked British from top to bottom. She was half-leaning on the table, having her both hands pressed against her thin neck as she helplessly said, “Our chances of getting into battle is getting lower and lower every day. So boring…”

“It’s been too quiet and boring nowadays if we compare it to the circumstances one year ago!”

“This is normal.”

Meanwhile, before Joshua could even reply Ying, Ling who was sitting by the side, supporting his head with both of his palms as he was spacing out, blinked. Then he swiftly replied, “Battle is not something to be worth looking forward to—even if you want to battle, we must also make sure everything is under control. We cannot afford to suffer any accidental losses. As for last year… the scientific term for it is known as ‘an eventful year’. Although it could fulfill your wish and desire, it was not a good thing for the master of this territory. You should not have that sort of thoughts in your mind.”

“I’m just saying…”

After being criticized by her own brother to the point that she became unable to speak, Ying peeked over at Joshua who did not utter a single word. She then realized that her master did not have the notion to join in that little conversation of theirs. So she sighed gently as she felt relieved.

At this time, Joshua was thinking about a problem that was not related to any of the previous topics.

“Recently, Ying and Ling have become much more humanlike. They seem more like human beings instead of weapons now. Just like the old butler.”

Although he was looking out of the window, his mind was twitching with thoughts. “It seems that the Divine Armaments can also learn through the logic of thinking of a human being… This is what we called improvement.”

He was somewhat relieved. He felt like he was watching the children growing up.

Furthermore, the cultural classes over the days seemed to be effective indeed. Hence, they should continue to improve through these classes in future days.

He then thought of that. However, without a reason at all, that thought he had in mind suddenly slipped away. Then his mind was focused on another question he had never actually thought about.

“Speaking of which… about Black, is it a male or a female?”