Soul of Searing Steel

Standing on the ice layer on the Nissia Lake, the silver-haired young girl was blinking her green eyes as she quietly looked through the ice in an attempt to observe the bottom of the lake.

Under that translucent layer of ice, the ice lake looked crystal clear and deep, quiet and peaceful. Up in the sky, a gleam of sunlight was seen escaping through the clouds, which looked like a radiating sword plunging the surface of the ice layer on top of the freezing water. Among all that, there was also the reflection of colorful lights gleaming around the scene.

Nostradamus and the other dwarves that Moreila brought along were also observing the situation below the layer of ice. However, their sights were different from Ying’s. The dwarves had a doubtful and confused look on their faces.

Why haven’t they come up yet?

That was what everyone was thinking. Could it be that they had encountered some problems down there?

Exploring the bottom of the lake should not be a difficult task at all. One should know that, regardless of whether it was Joshua or Moreila, both of them were actually Gold-tier champions. Right before the two of them, as long as they were not looking at the absolute dark abyss that was tens of thousands of meters deep, then they would not encounter any problem that they could not handle. Even if an ice lake had a magic disruption, the two of them would have scouted ahead and be done with their exploration by now.

However, in reality, they had not emerged back to the surface after a long time.

“Could it be that there’s something special down there? Maybe Master and Lord Baron couldn’t contact us in time before they started studying the things on the spot down there all by themselves?”

One of the dwarves could not help but start talking. He was one of Moreila’s apprentices. He did not seem old though. There were two small rings hooked on his beard. With a doubtful look on his face, he said, “Or maybe the lake is too deep, or the bottom is too vast that they can’t complete scouting the place just yet…”

“This is just an ice lake. How deep can it be?”

Another dwarf grunted and frowned, “It’s already been more than ten minutes now. With the experience of Master, even if this is a sea, he wouldn’t have taken such a long time to…”

Ying and Nostradamus did not speak a single word at all. They just let the dwarves to have their own discussion among themselves. One of them was concentrating on observing the situation beneath that layer of ice, while the other one was drifting away with his own thoughts as if he was thinking about something.

Time passed. Even the dwarf that seemed to be the calmest one had begun feeling a little uncomfortable about it. Even Ying began to frown. The old wizard also moved his line of sight over to look at the situation beneath that layer of ice. However, at that moment, a sudden burst of slight tremors and rays of radiance were seen beneath the layer of ice.

Then, under the gaze of everyone, the colorful rainbow lights of magic rose straight up, shining through the lake water, making their way through the layer of transparent ice. After that, glorious radiances began to glim unpredictably.

Not only that, the magic radiances were emanating out one stream after another like billowing light, tempestuous and blinding at the same time. Everyone in the vicinity was surprised as they had their jaws dropped. Immersed in the beautiful sight of the scenery, they also heard the sound of ice layer breaking, followed by the appearance of two shadows breaking their way out of the layer of ice, making their way up to the surface of the lake.

It was Joshua and Moreila. They had a serious look on their faces.

Because they had been using their Combat Aura to protect themselves, the clothes that they were wearing did not even get wet by the water in the lake. The old dwarf rejected the act where his apprentice was trying to put a coat on him. He followed the warrior and both of them walked up to Nostradamus.

The old mage had noticed the serious expressions on the faces of the two men. He understood that both of them must have encountered something strange down there. And that occurrence must be involving something big. It seemed that something big was about to happen.

Of course, because at this time, the magical rainbow lights had begun spreading up towards the horizon up in the sky. Above the sky, there were also traces of faint auroras and rainbows. Looking at the huge changes in the surroundings, one could tell that something important was bound to happen soon.

But even after he had mentally prepared himself for the matter, Nostradamus could not help but tremble after listening to Joshua’s description.

“Six hundred meters deep—a palm print?!”

The old mage inhaled deeply with his eyes filled with surprise. His white beard began to tremble, expressing how shook up he was currently. “This power! I have nothing to comment… Also, Moreila, are you sure that this lake was born a thousand years ago?!”

“Yes.”

Moreila nodded, and he touched the ring of metal that was hooked on his beard. His golden eyes were lifted slightly, and he looked very grim. “I swear by the name of the Sons of the Earth, and by the name of my beard, based on my experiences over many years, the geological changes in this lake had indeed appeared around a thousand years ago.”

“I can’t see any geological information though.” Joshua just stood aside and shrugged. He looked very calm. Maybe that was because he had experienced the surprise before this already. “But, even if it is really a Supreme-tier Aragami, even the strongest opponent that I’ve met, would not have the capability to create such a trace here. It’s impossible.”

“This is a problem related to the gathering of power and control.” He commented seriously regarding combat and battles, “In terms of sheer power, the powerful Supreme-tier and Legendary-tier champions could possibly do such a thing. However, it’s no doubt that the mountains of Nissia that was just right beside it would be dragged into this. Even if the mountain would collapse, it would not be a strange and bizarre phenomenon. However, the palm print has been engraved onto the surface of the ground just like that. Even the magic crystal veins that were located below at the bottom of the lake were not crushed. Such control would be terrifying. That would be like putting a thread through the needle head with the strength that’s enough to crush and flatten steel.”

“Indeed… such control… Even Isreal, the current Emperor might not be able to do this… furthermore… this was done a thousand years ago…”

Upon listening to the analysis of the two men from two different sides, Nostradamus lowered his head and looked at the ground as he gave it some thought. With a serious look on face, he started talking slowly, word by word, “Now is already Starfall Year 832. Meanwhile, 1,000 years ago… that would be the Three Hundred Lost Years.”

Upon hearing those words, Joshua and Moreila instantly narrowed their eyes. Obviously, that was not the first time they had heard that term.

The meaning of that term had really carry too many mysteries.

During the Age of Three Hundred Lost Years that was right between the Glorious Era and the Starfall Era. There were too many historical incidents; too much information that was wiped away. Because that age was the time when mankind, at their most prosperous time, was hammered all the way back to the ancient times. Because of that age, countless superior technologies and skills were broken and lost along with the passing of time. The humans could only start research from the beginning again. That was an era after the destruction, that was an era before the recreation was initiated. That was an era lost in the mist where many things remained unanswered.

Meanwhile, this palm print appeared during that age. The implication contained with it was surely confusing.

“This news… Don’t tell the others first.”

Nostradamus leaned slightly to the side and looked at the dwarves who were still immersed in the magnificent scenery of the magical aurora not far from where the old mage was standing. Then he pointed out. “Study it. This is going to be both a long-term and a large-scale project. If possible, try not to let other people know about this news. Just keep this between ‘us’, that should be enough.”

The warrior and the old dwarf nodded. No one would casually say this kind of thing, and Moreila could not help but let out a sigh. “In fact, let’s not talk about these big things. I first thought that the lake would only go as deep as one hundred meters. That should make the mining on the magic crystals much easier. However, from the looks of it now, the lake is over 600 meters deep. How are we supposed to mine the magic crystals then…”

Upon hearing that, Joshua also felt a little loss for that and he let out a sigh. Originally, he thought that this magic crystal vein could also generate some income for his territory. It was truly a pity that such an unexpected encounter would happen.

Today’s survey had come to an end at the moment. Joshua invited Moreila and Nostradamus over to his new Lord’s Mansion, The two agreed to it, but after seeing the castle that was built from granites, the two of them could not help but sigh at the warrior’s taste. Then they stayed over at the castle after that.

Meanwhile, the construction of the academy was progressing swiftly.

Currently, it was already a warm spring day in May. Although the location of the Nissia Snowy Mountains had caused its surrounding areas to still be slightly chilly, that sort of temperature was already considered as a temperature where the people in the North could have a stroll outdoor comfortably. The current weather no longer affected the people in the North anymore. Countless construction workers had begun happily transporting equipment and materials to the mountains and started the most preliminary preparations for the construction of the academy.

Although building the place on the mountainside was somewhat difficult, their construction was aided by mages. Under the support of the levitation spells, shrinking spells, and weight-reduction spells, numerous massive and heavy materials that could not be transported by humans were easily transported all the way to the mountainside without much of a problem.

In order to make the construction progress faster, Joshua had also sent his own knights over to the construction site to help the others workers and the Dwarves.

These knights were personally trained by the warriors. Currently, ever since they had obtained the respiration techniques through Joshua’s training, their physiques had been toughened up, and their endurance had also improved tremendously. After witnessing them in action on the construction site aiding the others, Joshua realized something. Why are the city walls and buildings in this world so freaking large?! Any building would turn out to be tens of meters tall or the walls would turn out to be tens of meters thick. They were no less than a megastructure in the previous life.

Any Stee-tier construction worker could move several tons of building materials with the help of the most convenient spells. As for the Silver-tier knights, regardless of whether it was excavating the mountainside or carrying materials, they were equivalent to a large-scale industrial machine that functions with incredible strength. Although they occasionally complained that such work was insulting to the knight’s glory, after seeing Joshua, Moreila and even Nostradamus occasionally personally came in hand-to-hand to help with the progress of the construction, their complaints stopped and vanished without a trace.

With the help of the mage’s spells, the project progressed very quickly. The ground was laid in less than a month, and upon finalizing the academy’s most basic structure, the project to excavate the land on the mountainside had been completed by the Silver-tier knights under Joshua and Moreila. They had also come across a high-purity iron-copper associated vein in the mountainside. Of course, it was not time to mine this thing though.

Starfall Year 832, sunny day, 3rd of June, snowy mountains of Nissia, the foundation of the academy by the mountainside.

Joshua stood on a spacious platform as he was watching the hardworking construction workers and knights carrying out their tasks. Deep in his heart, he could not help but feel a little sentimental all of a sudden. “Casting aside the ordinary workers, these knights are actually powerful forces in battles. They are equipped with heavy armor, and yet they can still behave like agile tanks that are good with offense on the battlefield. Meanwhile, they can also be great and efficient laborers that can be compared to most of the large-scale construction machines.”

Although the strengths of the construction workers were already monstrously strong compared to the ordinary people, however, there was still a large gap between their strengths and the strengths of the knights.

However, the results before their eyes were deemed to be swift already. Moreila had identified himself and deemed the quality of the foundation to be extremely great. It was strong enough to support the entire area of the grand academy that Nostradamus planned to build. The most painstaking transportation and excavation work were done. After the knights had completed their tasks, the next step would be letting the construction workers build the entire academy.

Fine work such as this would not be able to rush even with the aid and support of the spells. However, they could not effort to be slow and behind schedule as well. According to the estimation of the old dwarf, half a year’s time should be enough to get a rough framework done. By then, the remaining construction would be easier and faster to complete.

Meanwhile, Joshua could not help but recall a memory from his previous life which was related to the post-stage of the development of magic technology.

“There is already such a production in the current timeline. I wonder how efficient the production could become when the world finally has the kind of magic-enhanced armor that could be used by civilians. I wonder how fast the production can become when they all have such a thing to support them.”

Upon dropping his thought on that, Joshua could not help but nod his head.

As a semi-magic technology that could support the work of men by enhancing their strength, endurance, and precision, magic-enhanced armor were no longer used for battle. They could now be used for basic tasks such as heavy construction to get special effectiveness.

Although today’s construction workers were still unable to be compared to the knights in regard of their basic strengths, however, if they were provided with a basic set of magic-enhanced armor, they could perform extra fast than before regardless of whether it was transporting things or constructing buildings. That should be able to close the gap between the civilians and the knights. Meanwhile, the precision of machines would definitely be much higher than most of the ordinary workers.

Magic-enhanced armor was truly a great invention that allows ordinary people to have the same strength as a knight. Their strengths would be enhanced, and their efficiency would also become higher. In the later part of the previous life, the magic-enhanced armor had become extremely popular among society. Although the production for the armor could not be carried out in mass due to the invasion of the demons, however, everyone had the thought saying that if this armor could be mass-produced and be spread across everyone in the world to use, it could have been a prelude to the Magic Revolution Era and a call to strike back. If the stronger fighters could have armed themselves with those sort of armor that were much more powerful, their power level could have increased even more than before.

Thinking upon that, Joshua did not hesitate to immediately look up at Moreila who was commanding on the progress of constructing the buildings. The two men began to discuss the details of this issue.

The old dwarf had always been interested in the magic-enhanced armor. The design of this sort of armor was completely different from all the previous armor designs he had.

With magic technology as the core and the forging as support, although some dwarves would not favor such a design, however, as a runic dwarf, the combination of magic and forging had always been their basic instinct.

He came to the main city of Moldavia to find Joshua, precisely for this magic technology as well. Helping to design and build the academy was merely his ‘side quest’. Currently, the warrior had taken the initiative to discuss the matter with him. Of course he would feel very joyful about it. Moreila instantly placed down the work at hand on the spot and passed the work to one of his apprentices. Then he went off to discuss related issues with Joshua.

Although the design that was drawn before had been scorched to crisps from the aftermath of traveling across the dimensional passage, they managed to quickly sketch a new set of designs that seemed much more mature and practical than the one before.

Leaving the construction site of the Nissia Mountains, the two men returned to the main city of Moldavia, where they came to the sealed room underneath the family cemetery in church. They had been borrowing the high grade forging facility and the high-tier alchemy instruments there to begin the first step of forging and experimenting.

Joshua and Moreila had always been exceptionally vigorous in making decisions and carrying out tasks. Based on that kind of character and power to take action of the two of them, along with meticulous design drawings and continuous supply of materials, soon after, the first set of experimental magic-enhanced armor was about to come out fresh from the oven.

In the great plains on the northwest of the Empire, a final war against the orcs had just been triggered by the sound of a deep and solemn horn being blown.