Starfall 838, January 20th, in the core of the Central Black Forest, although it was winter, there was no snowfall.
In the center of the Mycroft Continent is a primeval forest that occupies nearly a quarter of the continent. Ancient magic mixed with the aura of chaos infects this land, making it incredibly fertile. Because of this, all kinds of plants here The growth rate of vegetation is so fast that it makes one's scalp numb, and countless monsters and dragon beasts also take shelter in this dark forest, where they can breed leisurely.
The area of the Central Black Forest used to be much larger than it is now. Thousands of years ago, when the civilization of the Starfall Era began, four-fifths of the entire Mycrof continent was covered by it, and only a few areas had shelters. Maintaining a normal order environment, but now, due to the continuous development and felling of various races for many years, and the reverse erosion of the magic power of chaos by the fire of order, the Black Forest is no longer able to divide the four major human gathering areas, but has begun to appear There was an obvious shrinkage phenomenon.
But even so, the area of the Central Black Forest exceeds that of any single human force, and even the entire Helgamos Empire in the north cannot compare.
Such a vast, primitive, forest filled with monsters and relics of the last era. It has been the main stage for various legends and adventure stories since ancient times. Countless adventurers have come here for trials when they were young, and many strong men have It is also here that they rose to fame. Here, mercenaries once discovered ancient alchemy wizard diagrams deep in the forest, and then became rich and famous overnight. Adventurers even unearthed the temple of the ancient god and ascended to heaven in one step. Achieve the ultimate goal.
It is even said that the founder of the Far South Business Alliance discovered the first pot of gold from the Black Forest, and thus became rich and powerful as a country.
Now, there is a group of exploration team members from the Northern Empire's "Empire External Exploration Department" who are undergoing arduous training deep in this ancient black forest.
"Priest, I don't think training in this damn place is of any use."
Deep in the central black forest, far from the ground, among the trees covered by the shadows of giant branches and leaves, five young men wearing camouflage uniforms, covered with traces of mud and sweat, were lying quietly on the high hanging tree. On the branch, he looked nervously into the distance.
They carry short knives at their waists and helmets with goggles on their heads. There is a layer of dull magic sigils on their clothes that are stirring, weakening everyone's sense of existence. On each person's wrist, there is an inconspicuous one. The dim crystal is an information terminal that has become popular among the high-ranking officials of the empire in the past year or so.
Just now, someone in the team complained to his teammates through the information terminal: "Seven Gods above, the mission of our External Exploration Department is to explore other worlds, not to compete with a group of brainless beasts in the primeval forest. And we have to lie down on a branch and pretend to be a bird! Oh my god, do we look like birds!"
"Like a bird?"
"Does it look like a bird? Ah, this smell makes me feel like I'm rotting."
"It smells bad all over, vomit!"
"Okay, you only have a mouth. The monsters here may not be lower than you in terms of intelligence. They may be able to detect the mental fluctuations of the terminal!"
In the center of the team, a young man who was vaguely the captain of the team replied impatiently: "Continue to lurk, not far away there should be the lair of the last target, the Boros Pythons. Just confirm their specific residence." Hell, even if this training is a perfect success, we can return to the empire as soon as possible!"
Boros Python, whose name comes from the legendary giant beast 'Ouroboros' in ancient times. Their ancestors transcended the life essence of mortal things and mastered the ability to convert basic materials. Therefore, they have a huge body comparable to mountains and nearly Immortal and super-fast regenerative power, and as the descendants of legendary creatures, they naturally have corresponding characteristics - every Boros Python has close to gold-level strength when it reaches adulthood, and a slightly stronger one can possess hundreds of Meters long, more than ten meters wide and with extremely destructive power, they can convert solid rock walls into soil, and then easily overturn a city.
The legendary giant beast Ouroboros wandered in the forests. Due to unknown reasons, it attacked the human gathering place and died at the hands of the second-generation holy sword user of Xishan. The snake bones became the skeleton of the wall of Trenton Fortress in Xishan, and its However, the offspring are still reproducing deep in the central black forest, and their lives are extremely nourishing. These mysterious giant beasts usually have a large range of activities, and even scholars who specialize in Warcraft have difficulty determining their residence.
But now, after two months of continuous tracking and exploration by the exploration team without fear of danger, they finally found the specific lair of the Boros Pythons—a low hill in the center of the black forest. They only needed to observe the pythons entering and exiting the bottom of the hill. hidden cave, then their mission can be said to be a complete success.
"To be honest... I still don't understand why the higher-ups above want us to determine the location and ecological habits of the 'Titan Dragonfly', 'Platinum Magic Vine' and 'Boros Python'."
Although they were scolded by Priest as the captain, because the observation process was so tense, some people could not restrain themselves and could only vent their pressure through mental terminal complaints: "These golds are even extremely powerful." Why do we, the descendants of legendary monsters who are not even gold-level, need to observe us? This is the Black Forest! If it hadn’t been for good luck, we would have died countless times, right?”
"Otherwise it's called training, not an outing."
In this regard, Priest, who came from the Moldavia Champion Academy in the North and had experienced hell training designed by a certain legendary strongman, could not help but be speechless: "Furthermore, it is precisely because the Black Forest is very dangerous that it is here. The value of training—otherwise, what should we do when we get to another world where the environment may be more dangerous?"
The five people who were lurking in the trees, waiting for an opportunity to observe the activities of the Boros Pythons in the distant hills, were the youngest elite team in the Empire's External Exploration Department. Although the conversation in the mental terminal seemed informal, after a long period of time, During the three and a half months of training in the Black Forest, the five people completed every scheduled task perfectly. They successfully used their superb survival skills to survive in the central area of the Black Forest, which is known as 'If you enter without gold, you will die', and successfully found Find the location of the mission targets Titan Dragonfly and Platinum Demonic Vine.
Priest did not pay much attention to the complaints from his teammates. Most of the environments in other worlds are unknown. Although the Empire's External Exploration Department will try its best to select living other worlds as targets. But it is dangerous precisely because there is life, and no one knows what is going on in the other world.
In Mycroft's world, the most similar place to another world is that it is infected by the magic of chaos. So far, 40% of the area belongs to the unknown central black forest, followed by the deep sea in the far south. The bottomless abyss of the sea, which is said to have been connected to the other world hundreds of years ago, has many strange alien creatures, and the Abyss Demonic Dragon is one of them.
What's more, as the captain, Priest clearly knew the true purpose of his group's exploration of the gathering places of powerful monsters in the Black Forest.
Why didn't the major forces in Mycroft's world find a way to eradicate this virgin forest? There are many reasons for this. According to the explanation Priest heard in Moldavia, it is actually very simple. That is, the benefits brought by the black forest are greater than the losses it brings.
If the legendary powerhouses from all over the world join forces, then they can definitely uproot the Black Forest and completely eradicate 80% of the Black Forest area within a year or even a few months. However, not to mention what will happen during the period. How much damage will be caused to the continent, how much elemental depletion will be caused by the magical power mobilized by the legendary strongman, and the number of those monsters living in the black forest may even reach hundreds of millions, which is more than the human population. There is no doubt that they will riot because their homes are destroyed. , even if only one tenth hits the surrounding human towns, it will cause extremely terrible losses.
The existence of the Demonic Tide has indeed caused great distress to all countries, but it can also bring extremely huge economic benefits. Countless furs, World of Warcraft flesh and blood and magic materials are almost delivered to your door. There is no need for each force to form a hunting team to capture it. , the daily exploration of various adventure teams can also steadily produce precious resources inside the forest, not to mention the various ruins inside the Black Forest. Once adventurers harvest something from it, there will be extraordinary benefits, not to mention their exploration. Didn't the team just fall in love with the special environment of the Black Forest, so they were sent here for training
Compared with this huge benefit, building a fortress and sending troops to guard it every year are nothing more than trivial matters.
But the indulgence of the Black Forest is a thing of the past.
Since Starfall 722, there have been no large-scale power changes in the world of Mycroft. Although, there will be various small frictions between various countries and forces, such as the Holy Mountain of the Far Sea and the White Pagoda that penetrates the sky. The conflict between the murlocs, the conflict between the Qiyao Council and the White Tower, the war between the Northern Empire and the orcs, and the internal fighting among countless kingdoms in the Western Mountains. However, these frictions and wars have not affected the overall situation and have not caused the overthrow and destruction of the country. as a result of.
The stability of power represents the gradual acceleration of development. War and friction are also accelerators of technological research and development. With year after year of investment and practice, the extraordinary power of Mycroft civilization has become more advanced and powerful, even to the point where it can defeat its peers. The level of monsters was overwhelming, and by the year 810 of Starfall, without an unexpected large wave of monsters, it would be difficult for monsters to break even a fortress.
The income from primitive furs and magic materials is gradually unable to meet the needs of civilization. In the exploration of the Black Forest, various forces have collected enough data. Now, when the Mycroft civilization is about to explore the void, the leaders of each force They all decided tacitly that it was time to repair the wounds left by this ancient chaos and turn it into the backyard of civilization.
Priest and the others are the advance team to find out the further situation.
"According to the news sent from the terminal, I heard that the dean will even personally take action to deal with the black forest area of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and open up a large area of the empire's territory!"
Recalling the vague hints in the many news in the information terminal, Priest couldn't help but feel a little excited: "After the mission is over, maybe we can see the scene where the dean personally takes action!"
And at this moment, as the surrounding earth and mountains shook slightly, a dark shadow suddenly rose up in the hidden cave under the hill that the exploration team was observing, causing Priest and others to hold their breath subconsciously. After an instant, under the winter sunshine, Under the illumination, the huge black shadow revealed its true form. It was a black and red giant python covered with metal scales all over the body and with sharp protruding heads like drills. Two pairs were as big as houses, arranged vertically. The snake eyes exude golden light, and bursts of energy fluctuations visible to the naked eye are scattered around the snake eyes, like ripples in water.
That is everyone's goal, Boros Python! An extraordinary behemoth that lives underground all year round and relies on swallowing metal rocks to develop! It seemed that they had tracked it correctly. This hill was the entrance and exit of the giant pythons above and below ground. In an instant, the team members who had been complaining before were all on high alert. They collectively turned on the functions of the special information terminals on their wrists. , take videos of distant places, and then transmit them back to the headquarters of the Empire's External Exploration Department far in the north.
And in the headquarters of the Imperial External Exploration Department located in the imperial capital, the dean mentioned by Priest, Joshua Van Radcliffe, was having a rather heated discussion with Nostradamus in the living room. Ordinary talks.
"A few days ago, the Fairy Township issued an important diplomatic notice to the Empire. They complained that your body often passed through the most popular observation port in the Fairy Township, causing them to stare into the void."
The old mage held an information terminal in his left hand, and a screen of light appeared on the terminal. He swiped it randomly a few times, and then found the notice at that time. He smiled and shook his head and said: "There are also complaints from the researchers at the observatory. , they said that there have been warnings recently of 'massive void objects rapidly approaching Mycroft's world', but after the final inspection, they discovered that it was just a passing silver cocoon - summoning the wandering ice element."
As he spoke, the old mage clicked on the fairy card table in front of him with his other hand, summoning an elemental being whose body was covered with ice crystals and whose upper body took on the shape of a human.
[Wandering ice element, 3 fees, 5 attack, 5 life]
[Advent: Freeze yourself for one round]
[Chain: You cannot summon creatures outside the elemental system]
"It can only mean that there are a lot of steel particles outside Fairy Township. My body will automatically find its way. I usually search for places with the highest concentration of particles to patrol."
In response, Qiao Xiu shook his head. He glanced at the fairy card table in front of him, and then played a card: "Just treat it as a natural phenomenon, they will get used to it... Summon pirate commandos to attack the player directly, and I use The curved-edged scimitar will also make a direct attack on you.”
[Pirate Commando, 3 fees, 2 attacks, 3 lives]
[Chain: If you have a pirate card on the field, get +1+0 and charge]
[Curved scimitar, 2 fees, 2 attacks, 1 durability]
[Chain: For every pirate card you have on the field, gain 1 durability]
The pirate commandos directly attacked Nostradamus' side's health mark, causing it to show a red -3.
At this time, on the card table, next to Joshua, there are already three creatures. Each creature has the ability to directly attack the player during the turn, or cause some direct damage, while Nostradamus has only A self-frozen ice element has only 17 health points left.
But Nostradamus didn't seem to care about this. He watched Joshua end the round happily, and then said: "In recent times, you have been too low-key. There are even rumors that you are exploring He was seriously injured when he was in the void, and now he is hiding in the territory to rest, and he will be killed if he is not careful."
"It's just rumors. They also rumored that the Nature Master had an affair with the Elf Queen, and that Pope Eagle had seventeen illegitimate children."
In response, the warrior shrugged and did not intend to waste too much energy on such boring rumors: "Let's not talk about the relationship between Garan Nord and Hernvalo IX. His Majesty Eagle has worked hard all his life. Where did you find the time to create so many illegitimate children?"
There are all kinds of strange folk rumors, and there are all kinds of messy news, but one thing is true, and that is that he has been very low-key recently.
Ever since Joshua returned from the Ten Thousand Realms Sacrificial Site and returned to Moldavia, he has been staying in the main city and has never left the Northland. He usually just walks around, looks at the sea, and takes a group of family members with him. Go shopping on outings, inspect Winterfort Academy, occasionally go to the abyss to see the scenery, catch a demon or two and ask about the current situation in the Sixth Abyss, the days are leisurely and comfortable.
Among them, there is indeed nothing happening recently. There is no further news from either Carlisle or deep space observation, and the anomalies on the other side of the Void Vortex are not subject to major changes in a month or two, so these days For a while, Joshua basically stayed in his own territory, thinking about his latest power—the ability to create a new kind of substance in his body.
If the power of steel represents the origin of all matter and the essence of the authority of all known phenomena in the material world, then the power of fire is completely idealistic and has the ability to change the world with its own will.
The power of steel held by Joshua can simulate materials under various extreme circumstances, such as degenerate armor, quasi-absolutely smooth materials with friction infinitely close to zero, mirrors that can reflect nearly 100% of radiant light, etc... these The special substance provides a great boost to the warrior's daily battles, and can help him adapt to various battles and environments.
The power of fire from the authority of the Burning Soul King can use the burning soul as the source to directly reverse the reality of destruction and rekindle the flames of a world that has been extinguished. Combined with the power of creation possessed by the ancient dragon, it can even make a person near the end of the world. The chaotic world returns to order.
These two powers complement each other, and when combined with the soul abyss held by Joshua himself, they are even more powerful. The warrior has great confidence in countless battles, but now, facing the enemy who also has all kinds of strange powers and even He is a legendary strongman who does not talk about the power of the laws of physics at all. Joshua started to feel a little difficult, so he used a small world being born in his body as the source to develop the ability to create some kind of material that did not comply with the usual theorems. .
A world itself should have a self-consistent order that can exist stably and permanently. However, the various common sense theorems in each world are actually slightly different, just like the organs and circulatory systems in each different organism. It's not like that. The world does not seek perfection, as long as it can exist normally, it is enough.
In a newly born world, how should its common sense theorem be determined? According to Joshua's experiments and speculations, it should be through the 'Order Resonance' method between worlds, which is similar to the collective creation phenomenon in the Void Vortex. These worlds born around the world of Siberia should have the same characteristics as Siberia. The common sense theorem of the world is similar. In the same way, the Kallis world surrounding Mycroft's world also has a similar environment. The races in the two worlds can even immigrate to each other.
If Joshua ignores the small world in his body, then its internal theorems should become very similar to Mycroft's world, but if this is the case, it will be meaningless, so Joshua relies on this newborn world to With the advantage of his own body, he forcibly added a special substance to the new world, a kind of [only the world in Joshua's body has the ability of quantum entanglement and elementary particles that can transmit information at the speed of light].
But just by adding such a substance, the prototype of the world was on the verge of collapse, causing Joshua to rest for a long time - and he also understood that such a substance that completely exceeded the common sense theorems of the ordinary world was extremely difficult to create. , every attempt is a subversion and challenge to the existing order.
But everything is worth it, because for Joshua, having such a super-light-level information exchange medium is enough to make him many times stronger than before!
There is an upper limit to the thinking speed of human beings, or in other words, all living things, because the transmission of information is not instantaneous. Whether it is neural microcurrent, optical fiber, or multi-core joint thinking, the information transmission, reception, storage, and extraction are The process requires corresponding time. Even for the soul, the linkage between countless basic soul particles also takes time. However, the upper limit of the thinking speed of the soul of ordinary creatures is higher than that of the material brain.
Even the old pope who transformed into light, his speed of thinking and information storage and retrieval speed are nothing more than the speed of light. The amount of information that can be stored in a certain band of light waves is also limited, so even a legendary powerhouse, in an extremely small time In the paragraph, there will also be errors such as 'unresponsive', 'unpredictable', 'unexpected' and 'not aware of', but the possibility of such errors is extremely small.
It is precisely because of this upper limit that the reactions of creatures that are too large will become slow. If it is like the ultimate void beast, which is comparable in size to a super red giant, even if it attacks the opponent, it will be able to attack at most. It only caused an instinctive counterattack in the opponent's relevant area. Because of its overly bloated thinking system, its core thinking center could not even accept and process the information that it was being attacked.
But if Joshua's thinking communication and information transmission medium become faster than light, then it can be said that his thinking speed and reaction speed can be improved without limit! Even if his body is as big as a galaxy, as long as the super-light medium is enough, he can instantly respond to any information from the outermost part of his body! The bigger his thinking organ is, the faster his thinking speed is. Joshua can even divide his thinking center into hundreds or thousands of pieces and place them in every corner of the multiverse, and he can still guarantee his thinking ability. !
This is the horror of the super-light thinking medium. The unlimited speed of thinking will gradually transform Joshua into a being that transcends the ordinary material world. For the legendary strong man, it is also an instant microscopic particle collision and splitting phenomenon. , to him it is just slow motion... Of course, this is the most perfect situation. In fact, this is impossible to accomplish in the short term.
Because this special super-light particle only exists in Joshua's body, and the world in Joshua's body has not yet been opened up. The quality of his body is limited. Only after the world is opened and the world continues to expand, will he have a large amount of manufacturing This extraordinary particle has the ability to rapidly increase the speed of one's thinking.
But now, Joshua can use this super-light information transmission ability to ensure that he can communicate with his family members in Mycroft's world in real time and transmit information in the void or even across the multiverse. In this way, , unless the enemy also possesses quantum entanglement-level attack methods, no one will be able to destroy the warriors in an instant.
As long as there are enough such super-light media, he can even maintain information transmission all the time. Even if one incarnation is destroyed, his body can receive information just like other incarnations.
At this time, Joshua and Nostradamus were still playing cards and chatting. The two began to talk about the plan to clear the Black Forest. This was the biggest move in recent times for the major forces.
"What Israel means is to make the Black Forest an imperial breeding ground that can safely produce all kinds of Warcraft resources. Others also want to make the Black Forest a backyard. To achieve this goal, we must We must suppress and eliminate all dangerous groups of monsters in the Black Forest."
The old mage now only has 3 points of life left, and the creatures on the field have also been cleared. It can be said that he is in danger. Joshua, on the other hand, still has 20 points of life, and there are as many as five on the field. The creature can directly defeat the old mage in the next turn.
But Nostradamus didn't seem to care at all. He smiled and said: "We will be relieved if you take action, but Joshua, I must remind you, don't kill too much. What we want is a safe Black Forest." , it’s not a white field!”
"…Do I look so ferocious?"
Joshua was quite speechless about this: "I have always thought that I am a very kind-hearted person with a sense of justice. How could I cause such havoc?"
In this regard, Nostradamus only said one word: "Ural Plains." Suddenly, Joshua could only sigh and ensure that he would not go too far and accidentally wash the black forest on the edge of the empire into White Earth—After all, the Ural Plain, which was turned upside down by warriors in order to search for the Temple of the Mother Earth, has not yet restored its ecological balance.
At this moment, a trace of information came from the two information terminals. Joshua and Nostradamus were slightly stunned, and then they both learned the corresponding information through the information terminal.
"Have you also found the gathering place of the Boros Pythons? Yes, this way, I can suppress them as soon as possible, lest they notice the legendary aura and flee, causing great damage in vain."
The corner of the warrior's mouth curled up. He seemed very satisfied with the efficiency of Priest and others: "The exploration team cooperated very well. I think they can try to conduct a real exploration of the void world."
"Well, that's true."
In this regard, Nostradamus also clapped his hands happily. Compared with Joshua, he was more happy about the growth of the younger generation: "These young people are just a little short of accumulation and can achieve the golden realm. They are better than Joshua." Compared with our generation, it will be much better soon."
"After all, resources are much richer now than they were a few decades ago. The average height of the new generation of empire residents is a full 8 centimeters higher than fifty years ago."
Joshua casually reported a number, and he reminded: "My round is over, hurry up and play your cards or admit defeat."
"No rush, no rush."
Now the cost of both parties has reached 10, and Nostradamus only has three cards left in his hand, no creatures on the field, and only 3 health points left - no matter how you look at it, he looks like he is going to lose. , but the old mage still drew a card from the card library unhurriedly, and then said with a smile: "The victory has just begun - my turn, play the card."
Then, he played the card on the far right in his hand!
Buzz - A low magic roar sounded. The moment this card was played, the half of the field belonging to Nostradamus instantly turned into a blue magic field, and countless vibrations in this area were like water ripples. In the blue field, a white-haired and white-bearded wizard appeared on the field. It was the human form of an elderly version of Nostradamus!
On the goblin card table, the elderly version of Nostradamus opened the magic book in his hand. Suddenly, three cards flew out from it and entered the old mage's hand.
[Shadow of Time and Space·Nostradamus (Legend of the Mage)]
[10 fees, 4 attacks, 4 lives]
[Advent: Put three 'Time and Space Distortion' cards into your hero's hand]
[Curtain call: Destroy all 'space-time distortion', no matter where it is]
[—Hidden behind the endless ripples of time and space, a wise and mysterious shadow]
The white-haired mage stood in front of the space-time rift, blending into the void, with the looming Void Observatory behind him. He is looking into the distance.
[Time and Space Distortion, Legendary Spell, 8 Fees]
[In this game, every time you use a spell card, the cost of that card is reduced by 1]
[After use, before your next turn, you will gain the state of 'space-time distortion'. You and all your units will receive 1 point of spell damage, and summoned creatures and weapons will have 0 points of attack. This effect does not stack.]
[—Your attack is infinitely close to me, but it can never reach me.]
After Joshua saw Nostradamus playing this card, his eyes widened immediately: "Wait, your own legendary card?! When was it released? No new expansion pack has been released recently!"
"Some time ago, those little goblins invited me to do it."
Nostradamus smiled and touched his beard, and then calmly played a 'Space-time Distortion' that had been reduced to 0 cost: "I can see it, you have a spell card with a destroyed effect and a direct Without any damage spells, I will be invincible for the next three rounds.”
Joshua looked at the all-weapons and charging creatures quick-attack deck he had assembled casually, and nodded slightly, acknowledging the other party's statement.
In the next two rounds, Nostradamus used two pieces of 'Explosion' and two pieces of 'Space-time Distortion' in succession, causing 10+10 points of damage to Joshua's hero, successfully completing A desperate counterattack.
[Extremely effective explosion magic? Explosion, 10 fees, Mage White Crystal Epic]
[Cause 10 points of damage]
[-boom!]
"Well, the recreational game is over."
After clicking on the voice of the game hero, "I am convinced that I lost to you," Joshua stood up and said, "Now that the information has been collected, it's time for me to go back and make preparations to clean up the black forest."
"Well, actually I cheated this time. After all, my legendary card has not been officially released yet."
In response, Nostradamus shook his head and said a little strangely: "Didn't those goblins come to you? Obviously the main manufacturers of the goblin card table are in Moldavia. I thought your cards had been finished. , this time I plan to see what effect your card has."
"Of course you're looking for me, as for my legendary card."
When he said this, Joshua, who had already stood up, couldn't help but smile: "The little goblin insisted on following me in person. He said he wanted to watch me cleaning the black forest and determine my strength before he could use it in several designs. Finalized.”
"That's really something to look forward to."
After finishing speaking, Nostradamus, who was sitting on the chair, waved to Joshua who turned to leave: "See you in action... By the way, Joshua, let me say it again, don't focus too much on cleaning up the Black Forest. Monsters, they are not our real target.”
"Of course I won't forget it."
Hearing these words, Joshua, who had already reached the door of the living room, stopped. He turned his head and said with a smile: "Recover the last remaining limbs of the evil god 'Fenghuo' in the world, purify the remaining power of chaos, and completely eliminate it." The evil god’s beacon left in this world.”
"This is the real purpose of the major forces joining forces this time to clean up the Central Black Forest."
It was so hot yesterday that I was in a coma from the heat. Today it’s 8800. It’s just an update from yesterday.
Please give me a monthly ticket!
(End of chapter)