Soul of Searing Steel

The living hall instantly descended into silence.

Clyre Windsong had a quiet personality as she did not say much. Right after she was done speaking what she wanted to say, she remained in silence. This elven druid was just standing there without making the slightest sound. She was not bothered about the consequences for saying what she just said out loud, or what would her words mean to the others in the living hall.

“Clyre, you’ve never told me this.” Nostradamus furrowed his brows as well. “Are you certain about this? There’s Chaos lingering here?”

“Yes.”

The female druid blinked her gray eyes as her face looked perfectly calm at the moment. “It’s everywhere.”

“But I don’t sense anything.”

The white-haired mage couldn’t help but to look grimly at the surroundings of the entire mansion—of course, he saw nothing. However, out of his trust towards his friend, the mage did not say otherwise or trying to convince his friend. Instead, he muttered to himself, “I’ve been studying the power of Chaos for over twenty-six years. That disgusting stench of Chaos should be detected easily even if we’re tens of kilometers away from it…”

Observing the surroundings once again, the old mage’s eyes were emanating blue light. He even used his energy vision to look around. However, after a brief moment, he still frowned as he could not understand. “No… not even the slightest trace… So to speak, this is the mansion of the new Chaos Guardian of the Radcliffe family. So how is it possible that the Chaos is here?”

Clyre did not reply the mage. She just stood there and shook her head.

Meanwhile, Joshua was also troubled by it.

Chaos energy?

Putting some thought into it briefly, the warrior then lifted his head. He spoke to Clyre with a stern look on his face.

“Honorable druid, can you lead me to the place you were sensed Chaos?”

“Just point out the approximate locations,” Joshua added.

“It is my duty.”

Upon nodding gently, Clyre took a step forward and started walking. Her steps were light as a feather. The dark-green robe on her and her green hair were flowing along the by her back as she walked. Meanwhile, the warrior and the old mage were following behind her.

Striding across the wooden floor, the three of them left the living hall of the mansion and arrived at the other area of the mansion. Meanwhile, the female druid also began to point at the spots where she could sense the residue of Chaos.

“The corridor.”

The elven druid then pointed her slender finger at a small pine pot right at the side in the corridor.

“The living hall of the mansion.”

“The woolen pad seat.”

“The study room.”

…

S then moved the tip of her finger all around the place, implying that the entire place was filled with residues of Chaos.

“The kitchen.”

No matter where they were in the mansion, the situation remained the same. It seemed that the residues of Chaos were everywhere.

“There’re also traces of Chaos outside the mansion. And the residues are large.”

Upon saying that, Clyre seemed to have found something. She furrowed her brows intensely as she looked up to a corner on the second floor. She seemed somewhat confused. “Wait a second…”

Meanwhile, Joshua was looking out of the window, the spot outside which the female druid pointed at was referring to the direction of the horse stable. Although the warrior could not find any traces of Chaos, he also confirmed something after all these.

“These are the places Ying used to go or clean. Meanwhile, recently at the stable, there were also frequent occurrences… This druid is not talking nonsense after all.”

However, the old mage was a little confused at the moment. So he brushed his own white beard and looked puzzled. “How did you notice all the differences all around this place, Clyre?”

He could not see anything different at all. So it made perfect sense that he would feel puzzled. As a Supreme-tier mage, Nostradamus did not use any spell to assist him in many things. Despite his many years of experience and high perception, he could not notice anything unusual about the mansion.

Turning her head to the side giving the white-haired mage a quick stare, this beautiful young elven druid sighed. Then she reached her right hand out of her robe and condensed a ring of light, a halo that was in emerald color.

“Balance is order and imbalance is chaos.”

The druid spoke gently. That was the first time she said so many words at a time, “As civilization and nature are in the same order, destruction and corruption are only part of Chaos. However, that was not all of it.”

After that, the green halo gradually expanded. And then it came into contact with Joshua and the old wizard. A force along with a refreshing feeling flowed into their bodies. Meanwhile, the two of them did not reject the power from flowing in naturally of course.

Under the influence of the power of nature, Joshua and Nostradamus felt that the view right before their eyes immediate changed. Everything changed into different colors and fog that were blurry. These colors and fog were flowing slowly all around, forming into one great cycle of harmony after another. However, right in the middle of this cycle, there was a visible gray fog. It was lingering on the same spot. It did not even move at all. Unlike everything around it, it looked like it does not belong there at all.

If it weren’t for Clyre’s help, the old mage and the warrior could not have found it. They’ve overlooked it all the while before this.

“Combat Aura… no. This is something more basic. This is Steel Strength, the presence of ‘Primordial Steel’!”

As a warrior, Joshua immediately sensed the nature of the fog. However, he furrowed his eyebrows and said, “However, this is a little different from the ‘Primordial Steel’ in everything.”

In the legend when the world was created, the Initial Flame had scorched Chaos and forged ‘Primordial Steel’. Everything was born from steel, and the world was made out of it. The power of fire and steel formed the multiverses. The power of fire and steel was one of the most basic foundations of the world. Meanwhile, Class like warrior could use the ‘Primordial Steel’ power that was imbued in them to enhance their bodies, fusing their wills and convictions into Combat Aura.

As a warrior, it was really difficult for Joshua to discover this indifferent power of the ‘Primordial Steel’. However, he could swiftly differentiate the difference once he had aware of its existence. Well, this power was too lifeless, as if there was no vital at all. It never moved, not even a little.

“Loop is balance, balance is order.”

Clyre whispered to the warrior and the old mage, “There’s nothing strange about this ‘Primordial Steel’, however, this power could not enter into the loop of the world. It just blindly stagnates in the same spot… It has been corrupted by Chaos.”

After some careful observation, Nostradamus nodded and said, “Indeed, that’s true. It is somewhat different… There’s no doubt that you’re specialized in such regard. It is most probably that only druids who are dedicated to the order and balance would be able to notice such a phenomenon.”

But where did this anomaly came from? The old mage could not help but turn his head around and look at Joshua. At the same instant, Joshua seemed to be thinking about something.

“You both.”

After a brief moment, Joshua seemed to have made up his mind about it. He then spoke with a deep voice to the two right before him, “I really have no idea why would there be such an anomaly here in my mansion. However, I have a much more pressing concern that requires your attention. Furthermore, I suspect that the matter is somewhat related to this anomaly. It might be closely related.

While he was speaking to the two, Joshua then turned around and led the two of them to the second floor. “I want to show you something.”

Clyre and Nostradamus naturally did not refuse. They followed the warrior to the second floor, their footsteps dull and heavy. The three of them arrived before the door to a bedroom on the second floor.

“This room…”

The dignified elven druid stared at the simple door. She turned her head around and looked at Joshua. Her gray eyes were filled with a slight curiousity.

“So what’s in this room?”

Without answering her question, the warrior just remained silent and opened the door.

Inside the simple room, there was only a desk, a chair, two cupboards and a bed.

Meanwhile, right on that bed.

There was a silver-haired young girl sleeping right on it. It seemed that the girl had been sleeping there for quite a long time.

It had been a long time since Joshua and Brandon fought each other. Ying had been sleeping ever since then.

The heat generated from her core deep within her body had stopped. However, she had not shown any signs that she would be waking up soon. Joshua did not actually understand how Divine Armaments operated. Although he had acquired quite some knowledge about the Divine Armaments while he formed the pact with Ying, that would not mean that he knew everything. At least the warrior could not do anything about Ying’s prolonged slumber.

If it wasn’t because the energy in her core had stabilized and there were no bad signs on her body, Joshua would have probably contacted all the people he could contact to see what was really happening to Ying.

So these two’s timing were impeccable. Joshua could take some advantage of that.

Joshua turned to look at Nostradamus and Clyre, who were looking at the Ying with a frown on their faces.

A Supreme-tier mage and an Upper Gold-tier druid. These two high tier spellcasters should be able to solve Joshua’s problem.