Chapter 568 Where Is the Enemy? (2/2)

Natural evolution was a simple-minded beast; it walked the only path and runs towards a predetermined end. The extraordinary path on the other hand was to grasp the path of evolution for oneself—a path countless people had countless uncertain divergences—and hence undergoing cultivation of millennia to the final stage.

”It's a pity that the extraordinary path that the Mycroft Continent inherited is not complete.” Indeed, not only Mycroft, most beings that achieved that step in the known Multiverse were all seemingly incomplete.

Joshua sighed again at the thought.

Legendaries strode through the million-year process through extraordinary power and directly turn from a mundane being into a superior one. In addition to the incomplete evolving body that was the path of extraordinary, the stride was truly too fast and too far, and ignored much, which was why all Legendary champions were in fact imperfect superior lifeforms. Legendaries would have been capable of completely altering the bloodline of a race solely by reproduction otherwise, and hence directly ascending that race into 'gods' in the eyes of mundane races. If so, they would not be as they were now, barred from procreating with ordinary life, while their lifespan was far from achieving eternal perfection.

”My Steel Strength body is different from Helm's body that relied on focusing energies and imitated particle accelerators to emit gamma rays. It is born of the essence for better combat.

”Sturdy, incredibly difficult to destroy, could be widely used across all worlds. Beyond that, it is imbued with diverse special constructs, in other words better so-called plugins that fight accordingly. It's a form that computes with my innate nature.”

Pressing his right hand over his Nuclear Heart, a throbbing silver light gathered as Joshua simply stabbed his hand into his own body. Like lightning, the light spread over every single one of his muscle, organ, and bone instantly while the entire underwater space turned into a sea of silver energy. It was so powerful that the Midgardian Fleet which was floating in space issued an alert that an energy flow was detected by the eastern sea. Each time it flashed, the space around was illuminated, and each part of Joshua's body that was touched by the lightning was changed into limitless ash-like silver particles. Those particles in turn danced in resonance of energy ripples, drawing an orderly trace that resembled a blueprint by the warrior's right hand.

The boundary of matter reassembling!

At the moment, Joshua was breaking down part of his organs and muscles and rebuilding it into whole new existences. With unstable energy ripples that panicked the Mother Tree and would scare humans, a giant crystal sphere around forty to fifty meters appeared beneath the warrior's furnace heart. Streaks of golden-red spiraling tubes connected the two, providing physical energy flow while the charging crystal glinted in mysterious silver-blue radiance. It connected with the heart, releasing powerful psionic undulation that was capable of warping reality—underneath its brush, stone and dust levitated over the seabed within ten kilometers as if completely losing all weight, flowing in accordance to the undulation, their rise and fall unfathomable like a thought.

Joshua Psionic Warp Engine Mark One—installation complete!

Having accomplished that, Joshua withdrew his right hand while layers of metallic flesh and blood covered their original parts, forming a dense outer shell once again. With Joshua's information processing and control that permeated to a particle level, he could use Steel Strength to directly disassemble the structure in his body, which in fact could be used for offense as well. Still, the time required for analysis would be too long—in that time, his fist would have killed the opponent a dozen times.

One way or the other, after completely studying the Midgardian warp engine, Joshua's body now also had one that belonged exclusively to him. The output had yet been tested but the initial trial was fine, and the warrior estimated that his typical warp length would be two to three times of the Midgardian fleet, meaning that he was two to three times faster.

”Turning extremely condensed psionic energy into a long, singular line, opening up a psionic vacuum. Meanwhile, the ship would thus resonate with the psionic energy and move to the end of the line… As expected of psionic power, truly an ideal ability as wonderful as thought.”

Joshua could not help but nod in awe as he felt the tremendous power of his psionic warp engine and atypical method of operating. The Midgardian civilization was assuredly wondrous and completely different from typical scientific civilizations. Even the Mother Tree's vast psionic spread would have only engulfed a single world, but when that power was turning into a single virtually infinite line, even the power of one warship could stretch out to trillion kilometers away. And now, with Joshua's power, the psionic energy could move even beyond that.

”One thing to be careful about is not warping carelessly into a planet or a sun's interior… It was fine on a universal scale, but warping within a system is too dangerous—it would be better to fly.”

Apart from allowing the warp engine to operate, the monumental psionic energy also brought Joshua a new sense. Now, like Midgardians, he could sense the psionic energies around him as if feeling air. With a single glance, the warrior could see that psionic light of the Mother Tree that emanated like a sun and filling the world that even the warrior's Psionic Soar status dulled in comparison. That energy, however, was definitively sporadic and unfocused, which greatly diminishes its combat affinity greatly. Even now, the Mother Tree that was the integration of countless psionic wills was fearing and staying alert against him, although Joshua understood how it felt—he knew that it was just an instinctual fear and evasiveness in the face of an overwhelmingly dangerous character, but still an ally in the end.

Apart from warping, the existence of the warp engine was an emancipation of Joshua's strength as well. His original dense body shell was built in correspondence of the world of Mycroft and had no way of completely blocking the curious energy that is psionic, which in turn allowed a psionic of Milhabus's level to see through Joshua's fearsome strength. But now, through previous adapting and reassembling, the warrior's shell was enough to resist psionic scan—he would be impervious even to a battleship-class radar.

Such was the way Joshua chose to evolve—through ceaseless imitation and assimilating new systems for self-empowerment. Just like how primeval stars absorbed smaller planets to increase their own mass, he could become stronger by unceasingly experiencing new civilizations and energy systems.

”From now on, when my outer shell is pierced, terrible power akin to nuclear fission or even nuclear fusion would be unleashed… To a certain definition, it's a nuclear reactor armor.”

As Joshua clenched his four first and brandished them, enormous energy churned the underwater air and formed streaks of unique hurricanes. He nodded, satisfied. ”If I face another direct blow like the Longsword of the Ashlands back in the battle of the Sacred Mountain, I could simply block it with my external armor instead of skewing it with my full strength.”

If it further developed, Joshua estimated that even Helm's gamma ray would not tear through his outer armor unless the demon used its full strength. He might even catch it with his face—if that happened, it could be called a Neutron Star Armor, or perhaps a Blackhole Armor… although the latter was a little far-fetched.

It was in that moment that the Mother Tree's will came, having sensed the intense psionic undulation wafting from Joshua's body.

”Foreigner beyond the Curtain… is it done?” It asked a little carefully.

”Yes, it is.” Joshua nodded nonchalantly. From start to finish, he had used almost a day to study the psionic warp engine and the essence of the Void Mother, a speed that was so fast it was inconceivable for normal beings. However, for the warrior who was an assimilation and emulation given form it was just about right. He ultimately did not have to understand completely how the psionic energy operated—it was alright if he could use it, things such as principles could be studied later.

”Your friend, the other foreigner from beyond the curtain, has created an unprecedented scale of spatial storm at the center of the far eastern continent. He seemed to have found a way to warp with his own bodies energy, and was finished before you.”

The Mother Tree's voice appeared to be awestruck. It could not be helped—it had taken the Midgardians millennia to find the way to head towards the skies and navigate the stars. In the end, these two superior beings from the other end of the Void accomplished the same feat within the period of one single day, and even if it was aware that both Joshua and Nostradamus had to build on their own achievements to succeed, it could not suppress the desire to sigh.

”Nostradamus is a Legendary Mage of the dimensional discipline; he even knows how to warp in the first place. All he needed was adapting to your local energy and spatial constants. Compared to my type of teleportation that requires a tool and could only be forcibly used through physical analysis, it is perfectly normal for him to be quicker.”

Joshua smiled, but did not continue on that topic.

”I sensed your urgent and anxious mood through psionic energy…” The warrior spoke in his usual straightforward manner. ”Speak, Mother Tree. Has the Void Mother been moving unusually?”

”That is indeed the truth.” The will of the Mother Tre had hesitated for a moment before answering in a dry tone. ”The remnant fleet of the Garden of Flowers and the Garden of Roots had rallied to the fleet of the Second Garden of Leaves. They had returned to the colony planet for repairs, but at the same time, psionic radar picked up a massive dimensional anomaly movement—the Void Mother, in pursuit by following their dimensional tracks, was distorting space…”

”In other words, the circumstances are dire, and your last colonized planet is about to be invaded by the Void Mother?” Joshua cut the Mother Tree short, even as the four-armed giant gradually shrunk before assuming the shape of a human warrior wearing black armor.

”Then there's nothing more to say,” he added calmly and collectedly. ”Just tell me where the Void Mother is right now and send me its coordinates.”

”I'll go.”