Soul of Searing Steel

Joshua was following the guidance of the Mirror of Holy Splendor at the moment, having advanced in the direction where the sun set for three days.

According to the map provided by the villagers of Jarien, the sun rises from the east and sets in the west in the world of Grandia too. At present, the heir of the fourth Sage’s Legacy was to the warrior’s southwest—it was the region that, according to the villagers, was where most survivors assembled to resist the Death Shades.

The dot of light that blinked from time to time in the Mirror of Holy Splendor would occasionally shift its position. It meant that the fourth heir was using instant movement in that time, although the circumstances were not at its worst since the Azurite did not shift abnormally.

Joshua’s flight speed was not fast either. It took him three days just to get out of the mountain range where the town of Jarien was, arriving at a flat plain. In that period, he did not stop studying the differing forces of this world in different sectors while helping Ling and Ying adapt to the energies of Grandia.

In those few days, his energy output level increased to forty-one percent.

It was now evening. The warrior was afloat in the sky, scanning his surroundings suspiciously. Just now, Joshua felt an immeasurably apparent malice aimed toward him.

To Supreme champions, the ability to foresee danger and feel ill-intent were fundamentals—furthermore, that sense hostility just now was so clear and unconcealed. Quite curious, the warrior simply stopped in his tracks and started to used lifeforce to scan his surroundings.

Right now, Grandia was certainly a post-apocalyptic world where undead spirits ran rampant. The town of Jarien appeared to be the single large-scale settlement of relevance within thousands of square kilometers. The other human survivor groups were at most a dozen—never reaching up to a hundred, staying deep within ancient forests, caverns or other natural strongholds for protection.

Additionally, since his journey across the plains, Joshua had passed by several former large-scale human settlements. Those, however, were ruins, with countless bones scattered everywhere—there was no hint of anyone’s presence. All that was left were an immeasurably gloomy dark fog that made people feel uncomfortable and kept spreading.

That was not unusual. Flatlands were easy targets—with just a single surge of Death Shade assault, any sturdy fort would collapse.

However, it was exactly for that reason that Joshua felt surprised—he was actually sensing a huge cluster of active beings near the plains.

Night arrived as sunlight completely dissipated. Dark fog began to urgently spread within this world even as innumerable black phantoms were born from it, blanketing the land.

Joshua did not move to wipe the Death Shades below him. After trying for the last few days, he learned that it was meaningless to vanquish the immeasurably feeble undead creatures. Under the propagation of the black fog, a new cluster of those undead spirits would be reborn no matter how many times he would kill them. Moreover, there were no human settlements nearby—there was no need to destroy them.

Nonetheless, the endless ranks of Death Shades that suddenly appeared did not affect the warrior’s detection before. After some thought, he turned and flew towards where the ‘existence’ of significantly higher levels and were more active assembled.

In the darkness, a clear, pale-blue moon appeared in the sky. Its rather dull radiance shone on the land, becoming the only light in this world.

Soon, the warrior swiftly arrived above the spot where he sensed those presences.

It was a rather huge lake, with tens of thousands Death Shades wandering muddleheadedly beside it. Nonetheless, this place was significantly colder than the others—with billowing cold winds combined with the humid air within the lake, a layer of frost gathered over the plants nearby.

And there was a magical ripple that fluctuated in response to the cold wind.

Joshua stared at the sight below him with much interest. Around the lake, there were dozens of powerful creatures whose presence were far more powerful than other Death Shades. They were not phantoms born after nightfall, but existences the warrior had already sensed in the evening.

These powerful Death Shades and monsters with varying shape and sizes seemed to be interacting at the moment. From their actions before, it was obvious that these aberrations that would not vanish under sunlight had intelligence. They were vaguely split into three camps, facing off against each other even as they talked.

The camp with the fewest members were composed entirely of human-shaped Death Shades. Amongst them, a swordsman equipped with both armor and blade strode out to speak with a hoarse but cold voice.

“Where’s the shard of the Jewel Seed? Don’t try to keep it to yourselves.”

As expected of the first intelligent monster the warrior witnessed on Grandia, the presence of the swordsman was most certainly formidable. As graying mana surged around his body visibly, every plant nearby was pulverized—none of the other Death Shades even dared to stand beside him, even those within the camp he was leading.

“Rawr.”

In a corner, a Death Shade in the form of a panther growled softly too. Its entire body was black as if composed of shadows, and it appeared to be leading another camp—this one composed of beastly Death Shades.

The intelligent panther phantom also seemed to be joining forces with that human-shaped Death Shade. Both were now pressuring the third camp—a party composed entirely of abnormally-shaped Death Shades—for more information regarding the Jewel Seed.

Under the shockwaves of the two beings’ power, many of the Death Shades wandering beside the lake died, blown into smithereens by the impact. The black fog that shaped their bodies spread across the air, and were soon absorbed by those sentient Death Shades.

Through it all, the third Death Shade faction—composed of an assortment of specters—kept quiet, completely not responding to the threat and pressure from those two powerful Death Shades.

Unlike the Death Shade, the specters’ body were completely transparent. Under the moonlight, one would have thought that it was a thin crystal sheet hovering in the air, but they, too, were intelligent. The one leading them was a giant body of soul, swaying unsteadily as if choosing an escape route.

Something unexpected appeared to have given these Death Shades intelligence as well as enough power to maintain their form, although the former was not of a high level.

After the standoff kept up without an answer for some time, the human silhouettes and the beast Death Shades lost their patience. Their sanguine gaze flashing with the radiance of bloodlust, they raised their swords or bared their fangs and dove towards the specters.

Nevertheless, Joshua had no intention to keep watching Joshua. After ensuring that the opponents were not the beings that displayed their hostility at him, the warrior extended his right hand towards those monsters from high above.

The right palm that appeared to be indestructible and made from concrete opened completely, aimed towards the undead specters that were now in a violent struggle. Without no emotions in his eyes, the warrior reached out indifferently and clenched his fist.

Then, a tremendous energy raised ripples through the atmosphere.

In an instant, the three leaders of the Death Shade factions who were tearing at each other violently looked up in fear. They stared towards the sky, where a crimson palm carrying a grandeur that could wipe out everything engulfed a region of several hundred meters squared.

It seemed intent on grabbing everything, and then destroying it all with a single move.

Without any time for nonsense, the Death Shade human figure stabbed his sword towards the giant crimson palm overhead. A streak of silver light flashed out of its tip—a sharp air blade that even tore through the microscopic dust in the surrounding atmosphere. It was a blow of full power, leaving only a white, hazy storm in an area dozens of meters around it while it madly cut through everything around it.

Beside them, the shadow panther and giant specter were moving to confront the palm too. With a thunderous echo, clumps of energy ripples gathered—both of them were displaying their full power too.

But it was useless.

Slightly revealing his own lifeforce field, Joshua’s volleyed palm struck down and briskly destroyed the dozens of intelligent Death Shades. He also made sure to grind down for a bit to ensure that the intelligent monsters were destroyed to the very last bit.

He could have spared them if the were ordinary Death Shades. Those were multitudinous ants after all—killing them was akin to not killing them.

On the other hand, these beings that possessed intelligence and could even empower themselves by killing other Death Shades, had to be destroyed immediately.

This was probably the first time he purposefully displayed part of his ability since he arrived in this world. The truth had proved that even if Joshua’s current energy output level was at forty percent, a single palm attack was not anything a Silver-tier being could withstand.

It would be difficult even for Gold-tiers to be damaged seriously.

“They were talking about the Jewel Seed?”

Slowly landing at the crater that was his palm print, Joshua looked around and quickly felt a powerful energy cascading at the spot where the specters were. With a single hand gesture, an icy blue gem streaked across the air in a curved line and fell into the warrior’s palm.

“So, is this the high-grade protocrystal Jarien mentioned?” Joshua said, his gaze focused on the gem shard that was the size of a normal person’s fingernail.

It was pale-blue shard with six sides and resembled an ice-crystal. A light flowed obscurely over it like ice vapor, with streaks of tiny blue rays refracted incessantly within what remained of its body, ultimately forming a beautiful luster that left people awestruck.

Though a fragment, it was a delightful surprise to acquire this protocrystal. Joshua was naturally aware that those sentient Death Shades had certainly toiled for this, even planning to get into a death struggle just to acquire it. After a brief moment of admiration, he entered the system to examine the gem rumored to be so valuable it could be traded for half a city.

[… Item verification… otherworld knowledge evaluation success, luxury knowledge evaluation failure, special item knowledge evaluation success.]

[Verification report:]

[Prokaryotic Seed– Holy Stone]

[Otherworld: The Prokaryotic Seed is a creation spawned from the special Steel Strength in the world of Grandia, a residue of the power that shaped everything during Creation. Underneath the surface of this tiny gem is immeasurable that could level an entire city. Any Holy Stone buried underground would autonomously gather energy that is adrift within all things and form protocrystals of other classes—the reason it got its name ‘Prokaryotic Seed’. This holy stone could be used by living things, and could even form an additional energy core.]

[Luxury: The Jewel Seed’s appearance is so beautiful that it’s a priceless treasure on aesthetic value alone. There are five different Jewel Seed adorned on the inherited royal crown of the Gelug Empire…]

[Special item: The value of the Jewel Seed lies within the theoretical exhaustion of the energy within it. Once that’s achieved it would be virtually omnipotent—with it, it would not be difficult to keep individuals that had perished as Heroic Spirits. The Creation energy alone is enough to satisfy all human wants—legend has it that gathering seven Jewel Seeds of different attributes and using the power within would realize any wish of the owner.]

[This is just a fragment of a complete Jewel Seed.]

“A Jewel Seed that contains frost energy, huh.”

Nodding slightly, Joshua now largely understood the function of this precious item.

From what the elderly swordsman had said, the protocrystals were raw ingredients that helped the cultivation of extraordinary individuals of magical-energy classes. It would strengthen their body and soul while granting a variety of spell-like abilities, while the energy within the Jewel Seed was endless and could even spawn protocrystals of other classes.

Furthermore, completely absorbing it would provide another energy core—to people who had not reached Supreme tier, it would certainly have a huge effect.

As for Supreme—otherwise known as ‘heavenly’ in this world—the Jewel Seed was not so meaningful. With Joshua being an example, his powers were simply so abundant that destroying a city notwithstanding, it would not be difficult for him to destroy a small nation with a string of attacks. He could also form any number of energy cores he wanted—for existences of his level, this object was not that precious.

That being said, Joshua still held on to the Jewel Seed and attempted to absorb the energy within.

At the moment, the warrior urgently needed to analyze the essence of energy within this world. Protocrystals would thus help with the fundamentals, with the Jewel Seed being the best choice. Now that he unexpectedly acquired a fragment, there was not much to think about.

Joshua’s will surged towards the little gem fragment, the rich lifeforce touching it and wildly investigating, discovering the difference between the gem’s energy and his aura.

A long time later, after some parts of the analysis was completed, the warrior suddenly felt that the Azurite in his chest was resonating by itself for some unknown reason.

With reverberating heartbeats, Order power said to be boundless swirled over Joshua’s body. Immediately, his sight stepped through the distance of ten thousand miles under the curious resonance into another side of the continent, at the other end of this world.

He saw a red-haired girl with dragon wings who had just looked up, herself as surprised as he was.

His gaze swept through the other person and noted the enchanted robe that carried a curious pattern, before focusing on the other’s face. The red-haired elf carried scars of varying sizes over her body, her face dyed in blood—but those were nothing to Joshua.

He remembered the face, and then smiled slightly.

“Don’t worry,” the warrior spoke thus with the Grandia common tongue. “I’ll be right there.”

In the distant, a fluctuating shade that was using some extraordinary spell to track down the warrior’s scent froze where it was.

“Heavenly-pinnacle… Soon to ascend into Divine-domain…” Loze the Shadeshifter spoke with a voice that was not as venomous when he had conversed with Jarien. That had been a fake personality the subordinate of a Death Shade grand commander adopted to complete a mission.

In reality, Loze, adept in imitating other Death Shades or humans had a prudent personality as well as volatile, mysterious intentions—unlike the arrogant and vicious demeanor it had before.

But now, regardless of Loze’s personality, there was now immeasurable panic in its heart.

“A single palm is enough to pummel forty higher Death Shades that had their initial awakening, even denying them a chance of reviving. The energy ripple around his body also reaches first-class pinnacle—if not for that little stagnation, that fellow would have broken through to the Divine-domain immediately!”

In the beginning, from his commander’s tone, Loze had thought that the being from another world was at mostly Earthly or had just arrived into Heavenly. Who knew that it was such a terrifying existence—having seen that horrifying murderous aura and vengeful will that darkened the skies, it was obvious he was not some compassionate being that could be threatened.

“The plan needs to be changed.”

Without thinking, the indefinite shade completely rejected his previous plan. “I must report this information to the commander as soon as possible.”

“This variable is greater than imagined.”