Chapter 699 Soul Star (1/2)

As the gigantic Steel Puppet whizzed toward the dark night sky, his vision began to elevate from the barren earth. The boundless gray-yellow plains extended as far as the eye could see, just as a cold, sinister wind unlike daylight lingered in the skies.

Joshua looked down upon the land. He could see the lights flickering on the Plantations—the Simboan Ultrahumans party's battle did not actually destroy it fundamentally: it would recover to its original state if a new batch of Soul Puppets were to be stationed there.

Looking up at the night sky, Joshua saw multitudinous stars twinkling amidst the faint gray clouds. Their radiance was dull and vague, as if having been shrouded by layers of veil, and the light they glinted in emanated unease.

There were varying differences of starlight between every world. Due to the difference in position amidst the Multiverse, starlight visible to every world would contrast, and unlike Mycroft, Simboa had no moon. In the black night sky, there were thousands of specks flickering but without that familiar silver brilliance.

Of course, such frivolity was not the most important.

”Simboa… should not have stars.”

Now eight thousand meters into the sky, Joshua remained rising, having crossed most cloud layers and dust shrouds, arriving high above where not even dust existed. Staring upon the silver stars glinting in the darkness, he muttered to himself puzzledly.

”Why would there be stars shining in a world inside a Void vortex?”

While most inhabitants of this world would not know about the situation of their own world, the warrior knew very well that there were no worlds existing within several dozen thousand datum points beyond Simboa. The vast energy vortex surged in the Void, and this world was the isolated island in the heart of the vortex.

It should not have stars or starlight. The world of Simboa should be entirely dark, and as silent as if dead… And if that was the case, what would those shining specks be?

Joshua had risen so high above precisely to investigate that.

At the moment, the gigantic Steel Puppets had arrived twenty thousand meters in the air, a height where Joshua could see those specks that appeared to be starlight enlarging, proving that the warrior was not too far away.

When he looked at it roughly, it appeared to be clusters of burning fireballs. Silver-blue radiance that were without dust extended in the clear air, and Joshua could feel very distinct ripples emanating from the fireballs. The sensation was rough, dense and seemingly alive, just as he sensed a familiarity: the warrior could not help pausing for a moment when he felt it, and he studied those distant fireballs, his brow tightened.

Those were ripples from Soul Cores.

”…What is actually happening in this world?”

The puppet paused for moments before moving again. The whirling steel halo behind its back accelerate, and formless momentum sent it flying in the skies at the speed of thousands of meters per second. At that speed, Joshua arrived at the fireball closest to him in a brief few instances.

And when he arrived beside it, Joshua realized that it was not as huge as he thought.

It was a perfect sphere with a diameter of twenty-five meters, with an outer layer assembled from a certain half-energy, half-crystal substance. Silver blue flame akin to liquid magma churned within, emitting bright radiance that could blind any creature that stared directly at it within several thousand meters.

Dense and frightening soul ripples that could throw normal intelligent beings into endless illusions cascaded, lingering amidst the silver-blue flames. It rumbled sharply within the thin atmosphere, and had the distinct scorched odor of plasma… It was a star, the true form of a Simboan star.

”This thing… This plaything.”

Having seen the huge 'star' that was actually an unfathomably huge 'Soul Core', Joshua's human body could not help breathing out softly, staring at the soul light with the puppet body together and muttering with a deep voice, ”How many souls did it take to make it?!”

Joshua turned to the starry skies around him. There were at least more than a thousand 'stars' observable in the skies of Simboa, while some remained hidden due to various reasons such as angle, overlapping radiance or being too dim… If every star was like what the warrior had seen, every single one of which was a large Soul Core with a diameter of twenty- five meters, how many souls it took to fake a sky of stars?

Soon, Joshua had an estimation: one such soul star needed at least twelve hundred thousand standard souls.

And a thousand of them meant twelve hundred million.

Joshua was silent when he got his answer; he was left astonished by a number for the first time.

Across the Simboan continent, apart from the colossal building clusters at the center of the world, the Plantations of Soul Puppets would at most be just over a thousand. No matter how one overestimated, the world population would never exceed four hundred million—but it was explainable if it was the accumulation of a thousand years of breeding, although it would be horrific if that was the case.

”There is no more than seven hundred Soul Puppets in a single Plantation too. A thousand Garden Zones, and several Hunter Legions—when counted above the higher average, would have a hundred thousand Soul Puppets. Even if there is a great number of puppets at the center of the world, their number would never be over two hundred thousand either.”

”Puppets used to rule the world and regulate order would be at most be just above two hundred thousand, and yet the souls hanging in the skies are over a billion. It is simply unimaginable however one thought about it.”

Slowly approaching the huge Soul Star, Joshua extended his hand, intending to touch the cluster of cascading soul light. Apart from shock and rage, there was also profound puzzlement in his eyes.

What's the actual intention of the one who created these Stars?

As he asked himself that question, Joshua extended his hand determinedly. The huge Steel Puppet clenched its iron fist and punched out—directly shattering its half-energy crystal shell of the Soul Star before directly using Steel Strength to connect himself into the dazzling soul light.

The warrior then saw the entire world of Simboa.

Sixteen hundred and eight four stars hung above the skies, linked to each other in the highest point of the world. On the ground, the top of the dark blue spiral tower emitted the same radiance, assembling into a colossal, dimensional and dense network that covered the entire world. That network itself had no wondrous or unusual function, however, and its singular function was to observe.

Indeed, to observe.

As the Soul Stars that numbered over sixteen thousand Soul Stars released soul light and soul ripples that perfectly covered the world, permeating even the earth and deep beneath ground. In the instant Joshua connected to those soul light, he could see every movement across the entire world of Simboa: it was an observation that surpassed any living method. Incalculable amounts of information cascaded from the other side of his Steel Strength connection, causing the warrior to groan and sever the link.

The part of Joshua that descended upon Simboa was merely part of his Soul and Steel Strength. What he needed to do did not require soul strength but an extremely unique path evolved from his main body, and only his main body alone could handle such astronomical volume of information—his soul was far from enough.