Soul of Searing Steel

There were ties that bound all living beings together.

Kinship, friendship, rivals, sworn enemies…there were many a bond that kept humankind connected to one another with varying degrees of depth. Still, there was no question that even if every being was basically independent, endless bonds brought together all those independent, lonesome islands.

Naturally, such ties generally developed between brethren of a same race—humans with humans, dragons with dragons, horses with horses…but for some reason, there would always be one unusual specimen who developed deep bonds with many beings of different races.

***

On the first of January, Starfall year 849, it was forty-three minutes past five in the evening up north at the Winter Fort Academy in the Nissia Snow Mountain.

Foggily, Black opened her eyes, breathing out turbid gases from her body as she awakened in the Paw Print Lake to the fore of the academy.

Broiling earthen core gas combined with dragon fire triggered the rich mana crystals beneath the bottom of the lake, causing the deposits to emanate unusual rainbow radiance while heating up most of the lake, creating surging bubbles from the depths.

Incidentally, classes were over at the Winter Fort Academy. Many students who were taking a stroll beneath the mountain to relax or stealthily hold hands with lovers therefore witnessed the sight of milky white vapors combining with rainbow radiance as they floated into the air like a massive pillar.

However, not many of them were taken aback at all since they were actually only too familiar with the cause behind it. There were even some students taking in the damp and warm gales while joking with their friends, “Miss Black woke up late today—its been over ten minutes since school’s out.”

“Isn’t that so? Quite the rare sight, haha.”

Being a Demi Ancient Dragon who stayed under the lake beside the Winter Fort Academy yearlong in the North, Black was certainly aware of the motions whenever it awakened from her afternoon nap, and was even considered something equivalent to a school bell by the students. Even so, she never was concerned with such frivolities.

“So boring…s igh . No magical creatures wreaking havoc, no criminals making a ruckus—why is this world so peaceful?”

Black yawned, intending on leaving the lake before realizing that she had nothing to do at all for the day. But having already risen up, she simply rolled around and morphed into human form and kept lying down at the warm bottom of the lake, her eyes half-opened as she turned on her own Spirit Terminal.

“We’ll see what is there on the news today.”

With that thought, volumes of information appeared in front of her eyes.

***

It was the greatest of eras.

With the resurgence of Glorious Era technology in recent decades along with the flux of Extraordinary individuals thanks to the Great Mana Tide, the Winter Fort Academy did not have to worry about fresh intakes running out, even establishing a dozen branch academies in the process to prevent any prodigious talents from being uncultivated. Moreover, the almost fully publicized training materials that could be obtained without much cost had not only improved the older generations of champions who had reached a bottleneck, but it had even nurtured endless new data and legacies, quickening the rate at which the eras were changed.

In the age where the effort and battles of certain champions had brought about rapid peaceful development, it had seemingly taken just two generations for Mycroft to accomplish the feat of leaping from pre-industrial era to spacefaring age. Even if that certainly could be attributed to having the Glorious Era relics, it was also thanks to the sheer excellence of their Extraordinary civilization—after all, to a world in which even common citizens considered teleportation magic a common knowledge and often saw the arrival or departure of champions, along with profound battles outside their own realm, the so-called Void was merely an ocean of a larger scale, with other worlds being akin to other continents floating above it.

Thanks to the strong sense of tolerance that came from bold nerves, the people of Mycroft could always easily accept every new product, unusual living species, and the infinitely diverse foreign civilizations, receiving all of them as common sense.

In that respect, the Spirit Terminals were perhaps the most quickly assimilated concept.

“Oh, oh, oh! There’s new updates for both Continental War and Grand Colosseum today!”

Browsing through her Spirit Terminal, Black suddenly whooped in delight and hurriedly dragged out the web page, bringing out the entirety page of the latest information.

[Grand Colosseum Ver. 6.64]

—Chain kill system added. Temporary nicknames can be won through consecutive wins, earning XP bonuses along with cool skins. Present limit of consecutive wins is ten.

—New maps ‘Ether Abyss’, ‘Shattered Realm’ and ‘Void Vortex’ added. Players below recommended levels are discouraged from playing in the new maps.

—New single player mode added. Starting from this update, players can challenge ten AI enemies of equal levels, earning a new nickname by defeating each AI foe. Nicknames can provide XP bonus along with the chance to buy loot crates for new adornments.

—The first Cosmic Invitationals is about to commence. Qualifier groups for both single player and multiplayer are now open. You may advance alone or find comrades to fight alongside you, but in the end, only thirty-two teams or individuals would enter the Cosmic Invitationals, and be rewarded with prize money and other great rewards.

Reminder: Teams are limited to five persons per group. Starting from Gold-tier, the Invitationals would be grouped according to ability into three major groups—Radiant Gold, Soul Supreme and Fated Legend, with separate invited teams and victors. You may not select an individual of a superior tier as your teammate.

—Silver Invitation tickets to the first Cosmic Invitationals are now open for purchase. You may buy different levels of tickets and earn corresponding rewards such as new loot crates and exclusive maps.

[Continental War Ver. 7.22]

—Evil Gods of Chaos, a latent natural disaster added to gameplay, along with new crises ‘World Darkness’, ‘Apocalyptic Tides’, and ‘Inborn Evil’. Hidden classes such as Mad Cultists and Chaos Summoners will also appear randomly amongst the people of civilizations and destroy your establishments, with their numbers rapidly increasing when your civilization’s stability is low.

—Forerunner Legacy System equipped with brand new event chains and exploration has been added. VIP accounts of Supreme-tier or above can pick ‘Forerunner Openings’, but of present, only ‘Creator Spirits’, ‘Glorious Splendor’, and ‘Desolated Shadow’ are available for selection.

Friendly reminder: Forerunner Openings is seriously difficult and contains various standalone challenge levels.

—’Mutants’ would now appear at random in beehive form civilizations. Mutants will not answer to the calls of the Hive, but could be remain connected to the Hive. Mutant stats are also random, but are all equipped with elite spirit force.

—AI projection load calibrated; AI processing functions elevated. 

Warning! The ‘Abyss’ difficulty of Continental War now has enemy civilizations AI armed level seven artificial intelligence functions. Do not underestimate your enemies and perfectly unleash your wisdom in search of a way to break out of hell.

“Urgh, I’m so touched!”

Although there was still much more updated content, Black was so emotional that she was about to cry with a quick look through over some of them, even rolling around beneath the lake to express her delight. “With so many updates, it’s like a new game now…by the way, doesn’t buying tickets mean joining that Invitationals tournament?”

“Well, I could just ask Ying, Ling, and Zero Three later…oh, wait—Zero Three would have to join Fated Legend…then what about Zero One, Lisa, and Syndicate? It’s exactly five people!”

Reveling in her beautiful daydreaming, Black did not consider the fact that the others had things to do—whatever the case may have been, it was the first time Black was so thrilled after having almost fallen to her grogginess as her bloodline instincts dragged her to a slumber, and she could feel her blood ablaze in her veins.

“After all, I am a pro who had won 27 consecutive wins in Supreme-tier random battles. Would it not be peanuts to enter the tournament proper, even if I don’t win it?”

With such confident thoughts, Black logged on to the forums for Grand Colosseum, ready to enjoy the other’s delight and the bragging of forum warlords. Everyone in the Spirit Terminal forums were great talents compared to the dull world of reality, their words ever so nice—she loved that place the most!

However, Black did not see the positive posts she imagined she would find, such as ‘Buy, buy, and buy! What kind of human wouldn’t buy such generous invites?’ or ‘Livestream: opening loot crates, rolling for one Perpetuate decoration’.

Instead, there were only screams that seemed to echo over the entire world.

[Free discussion]: No, what on earth is with the AI?! 

[Gameplay Mechanics]: Why is the advanced AI’s offensive so violent from start to finish? Such an unreasonable design, it allows no spare time to breathe at all!

[BUG compilation]: Same levels, but I’m being still instakilled. I could even see that AI casting its skill but I just can’t dodge—isn’t that a bug?

Black also read through the various replies beneath the posts that were heavily liked.

“No? What on earth do you mean, ‘No’?””No, what is going on with you?!”

“I thought it was okay, it’s like the usual feeling of being instakilled by some random unicum stranger (meh).””Good day to you. The latest patch has repaired the BUG which enables you to defeat AIs.”

“I came, I saw, and was instakilled. What is there to say.””Good day to you. It is not the dear BUG’s fault—it’s just that you are too weak.”

Almost every content was fervently calling out the updated AI difficulty of the Grand Colosseum, with few mentioning the major event that was the Invitationals tournament. Despite her doubt and mumbling ‘what is going on?’, Black also clicked a super lengthy post that was pinned automatically.

It was a post made by a famous clan in the Grand Colosseum forums—the ‘New Elite Labs’. The clan often analyzed the effects and advantages which the different maps would have in store for different classes or races, as well as suggested some interesting map strategies and assortments of favorable tactics, which was why many would laud their divinity whenever they would make a post and save it.

And it appeared that the debut of the new AI was no exception—Black caught a number of IDs she was familiar with in the post, players whom she imagined had hurried here for a look when they saw the new posts from the New Elite Labs, checking for some strategies or tricks they could learn.

But unlike before, the New Elite Labs did not provide any strategies, instead leaving just a single line of complaint that conveyed clear dejection.

[What the heck is with the AI? Isn’t that just a cheat? All maps tested to be perfectly compatible with precedent. I don’t think such entities exist in the Multiverse…no, what even is that creature?]

“Never would have thought…even the professional level clearers have failed.”—Noob Captain

“Ah. Even the New Elite Lambs has fallen”. —ID undisclosed due to regulations

“They’ve had it hard too. Leader, should we join them and work together to clear the map?”—I Love Tentacles, replying to ID undisclosed due to regulations

“I did say that there’s no reason I can’t clear if they could…as I’ve imagined, everyone can clear the map.”—House Sitting Demon

In short, there were already a few thousand pages of comments, all heavily laden with related discussions and complaints, with some players even sharing footage of themselves being installkilled by the advanced AIs or resisting for a while, only to be crushed soon enough. In fact, any player who could still stand their ground for over twenty seconds were now considered elite players of the cosmic forums, with the present best record held by one unfamiliar ID called ‘Carrying Stars to Herd’, who was slugging it out with a level nine AI for over five minutes and was just a strike away from winning. The player appeared to be a Void-level champion who was remarkably rare even in the diversity of the present Mana Net, with many players clicking on the champion’s footage.

The footage itself showed a white-skinned Void Behemoth fighting against the level nine AI in space for over five minutes. The battle was at its height from the very start, with breaths of Chaos surging even in the footage and the channels worn off—due to lacking personal ability, many a spectator would be left in a daze from the boundless information contained in the information and causing instant disconnection.

“It’s alright,” the user of that ID had commented on his own performance in the end of the video. “It’s at least better than my performance the last time around.”

***

There were ten levels, respectively being Mortal, Iron, Silver, Gold, Early Supreme, High Supreme, Early Legend, Intermediate Legend, High Legend, and Ultimate Legend—with the so-named Class Nine AIs possessing abilities of High Legend.

While Black’s own power had yet to reach Legend, it was not so weak that she would be left in a daze by watching a battle at the level of Legends, but even she was unable to clearly observe the flow of battle.

“A Legend defeated by an AI? Isn’t that too weak…I think it’s a level ground through time, and not some actual combat-class.”

Even if she was left dumbstruck in her astonishment after watching the videos shared by each different player, Black did not actually feel like cowering but was instead raring to try. “All of them are talking about how difficult it is, but I feel like there’s only all there is to it… all of them had actually been beaten because they were not fully prepared. At best, I would just have to focus a little and fight with my full power!”

“Maybe, just maybe, I would be the first to defeat a draconic AI of my own level!”

With that thought, Black excitedly logged out of the forum and clicked on the icon for Grand Colosseum. Smiling, she confidently picked single-player mode and then Class Six AI for her options.

Map: Ether Abyss, map destruction check, random calamity on!

Game, start!

***

Three seconds later.

Black raised her head and looked around at the bubbles rising from the bottom of Paw Print, with the faint imagined pain of being beheaded lingering over her neck. “What on earth?”

Why was I instakilled?

“No! It’s just that I wasn’t focused before!”

Gritting her teeth, Black clicked on the ‘Battle On’ bottom. “There’s no way—”

Another five seconds later.

Feeling her brain being crushed and slight agony over her chest, Black could not help but to furrow her brow. “No, no, there must be a mistake somewhere…I should have cast Sun Fire Shield from the very start.”

Battle on!

Ten seconds later.

“No, why couldn’t I see him?! How was I even killed?!”

Battle on, again!

One second later.

“No, no, I shouldn’t force myself to look for the target. It leaves me wide open!”

Battle on!

Fourteen seconds later.

“Waaaaaaargh!!! What right does he have to kill me—it’s like I’m poultry! We’re both Supreme, there’s no way I can accept this!!!”

Battle on!

***

“Who am I? Where am I? Why am I torturing myself?”

“How many times did I die?”

Four hours later, the black dragon spread out her limbs and wings blankly, her tail swaying gently and stirring the undercurrents of the lake. “Well, whatever. I won’t be able to count by now.”

In the long process of battling on, Black had unwittingly changed from her human form and started to fight in her true form—but even that did not lead her to hold on longer than a minute and a half.

“But…wait a minute. Why do I find the way that the AI fights slightly familiar…?”

Recovering from her brain which had heated up in the battles, Black searched through her memories in slight realization: she was not actually unacquainted with the combat style of that AI, and that familiarity was actually engraved into her very bones!

“Hold on! Is—isn’t that the combat style used when Master was still Supreme-tier?! Back during the time when we fought the Supreme Black Dragon Mandagar in the Bloodmoon Abyss!”

“There are some little differences, but that AI is simply fighting me as if I am Mandagar! And here I was, wondering why is the AI so proficient in dragon slaying…so it is based on Master?!”

“No, no—wait, doesn’t that mean the templates of the newly added AIs are all based on Master?! No wonder…and what even is there to play for!”

At that moment, as Black returned to reread the posts back in the forums, she could only feel overflowing respect instead of any sense of belittlement at all. “Heavens, that Carrying Stars to Herd player could actually last five whole minutes against Master in High Legend mode, only losing to a single strike and not being maimed…so impressive!”

Her own best record just lasted over two minutes. The Black Dragon girl who had not actually experienced many highly intense battles certainly could not adapt to such combat style, and only ever exposed herself, leaving openings to the AI who killed her with a single blow.

“Still, if that’s the case…could that be Class Ten AI be…?”

It was not actually embarrassing to fall before the AI crafted out of her own owner. Instead, Black was now so completely invested that she was ready to strengthen her own ability from the aspect of combat and commence a planned challenge while training in the process.

But it was also that moment when she suddenly recalled that the Carrying Stars to Herd had actually only challenged the AI at Class Nine.

As for that Class Ten…

***

“What the hell!”

In the Abyss of a certain galaxy on the other side of the cosmos, an enraged consciousness cascaded through the Void as the voice of the Imperator which was holding back clear wrath and doubt resounded. “Isn’t that Class Ten AI quite simply Radcliffe himself playing?!”

“Or could it be that he had risen to the next level in such a short time, and even his simulated AI is now capable of beating us?”

There had been rising doubts and continuous screams with the current update of the Grand Colosseum, at once bringing joy and letting everyone who had lost all contact with a certain person know that he was well, even having the spare strength to update games and put himself to action across time and space, displaying his ability to everyone.

Thus, the mutually bantering phrases such as ‘Overly Powerful AI’ or ‘Three Minute Champion, I Salute You’ began to spread amongst Colosseum players and became a point of attraction for many other civilizations and beings across the cosmos to join the Mana Net and the Grand Colosseum.

Naturally, all of that only happened later. At present, Black was quietly logging out of the forums once more and returning to the home page of the Spirit Terminal when she thought of the possibility that the AI was made using her master as a template.

“Is Master…already so powerful?”

There was a certain loneliness in the Black Dragon girl’s expression. “I’ve been so hardworking, but I can’t seem to keep up even if it was just for a little…”

With that thought, she looked up and stared at the game icon of the Grand Colosseum.

As a dragon, Black was not actually so smart or diligent. Though she was patient, that virtue was hardly stimulated, just as she would fall to the slumber of Ancient Dragons if her innate gifts were fully activated. She desired to become stronger and would not spare herself determined effort from doing so, but her journey was akin to treading upon a falling cliff—a moment of carelessness, and she would be dragged down by the exceedingly powerful bloodline power, caught in a dream extending through millennia.

Did she really like the game so much? Would nonstop battles—virtual ones at that—not be too boring, even if it was just to pass the time? After all, not everyone was that warrior who could laughed so nonchalantly even if he was eternally bathed in blood and war.

Still, Black would keep playing on. In the world where not many would be her company to fight and strengthen, that was the only place where she would gain experience in combat.

“Because that’s what master expects of me.”

She watched the icon of the Grand Colosseum—it was the picture of a rather unusual black dragon head and it was roaring, with the colosseum walls that were ablaze surrounding it and shining in golden radiance just like a sun.

“Black, I’m going to use your appearance for the icon of the Grand Colosseum.”

The voice of her Master, which had a hint of laughter, reached her from the past. “How is it? I do think it’s rather cool.”

“Yes, yes! Master is the best!”

Her own excited cheer then could be faintly heard.

“Well then, I chose you, Black. You’ll be the guardian totem, haha.”

It was rare, but it was her Master’s laugh—happy and hearty, even if he was not in a battlefield.

That had also been the first time she had made a promise to herself not to let down her master’s expectations, to truly do everything she could to keep up with her master.

***

“Ding-ring-ding-ding-ring?”

Clear wind chimes echoed abruptly. With a streak of flickering light, a tiny luminous orb suddenly appeared in the lake and latched itself between Black’s horns.

“Eh, Light? Why are you here?” Black asked, slightly curious since it was rare for Light to keep her company anymore since it had been busy with things over on the other side. There were also moments when Light’s rarely seen self-aware World Will form was needed to help the Seven Gods build some secret controlling hub.

Either way, it was really rare to meet it here today.

“Ding-ring, Ding-ring-ring-ding-ding.”

Light was calling out cheerfully, but Black smiled, shaking her head.

” Sigh. Master wouldn’t be coming back so soon. He did say that he would be away for a very long time…that’s just his AI, not him.”

“Ding… ring?”

“Uh-hmm. Don’t be so sad, he always comes back. And before he does, we must do our best to give him a big surprise. Right?”

“Ding-ring-ding-ring!”

Being the one who had been with Joshua the longest since she was still an unintelligent war horse, Black could hardly put the feelings in her heart to words.

“Do I really understand Master?”

She always felt that she had actually understood nothing, just as she also felt that she understood him very much—the man who had once journeyed over seven days and seven nights without rest, all to return home and exact vengeance, was now a profound being who was revered by the entire cosmos. It was all so outrageous, and yet it was those who had journeyed alongside him every step of the way who were aware that it all simply made sense.

Black even remembered the words spoken recently in the Liege’s Residence of Moldavia, as several Legends, Miss Zero Three, and some actual divine beings discussed certain very secretive matters.

“He…is just like the Sage was back then.”

“No, there are some differences compared to the Sage. Back then, the peoples only felt gratitude, respect, and love that extended from their very hearts, but not a single person actually feared the Sage.”

“In the case of Joshua, it isn’t that same mutual love for the Sage, but a reverence.”

The voices of the elderly Pope and the God of conservation were audible, their evaluating voices being bold and without any hint of discretion. “I’ve come so far in the company of the Sage, bearing witness as he established a new path. I could discern from the formless influence from how everyone reacted to him to deduce what path they would take.”

With those words, the God of Conversation brought out a smoking pipe that actually had no weed within. That action itself was meaningless for a god as well, but it was one of his rare memories remaining in relation to his preexisting interests. “That fellow had wanted to restore all damage to the previous state, and the Holy Light was thereby created. That was why the most damaged would yearn for him more—the Abyss being one of those elements, just as it was alleged that it had been how Shadow came to be.”

“But when it comes to Joshua, I know nothing at all about what he actually wants…to fight for all eternity? No, that would be wrong—although he is very much battle given form and devastation manifested, but if that had really been his single pursuit, we would have long since been destroyed by an Evil God of War. It is because Joshua is as he is now, that it’s evident eternal conflict isn’t his goal.”

“Combat certainly is his interest and drives him, but it’s not his path—there has never been a rule whereby any person is only able to do what they prefer, which is why there is a more fundamental intention that he holds, hidden beneath his thirst for battle.”

“And that would be the ‘way’ he has chosen.”

***

Black agreed with the judgment of the God of Conservation, just as much as she did not.

Because her Master was neither ‘battle given form’, nor did he hide some fundamental intention. Her Master was her Master: Joshua van Radcliffe, a mere warrior.

“Light…Master actually doesn’t expect much of others, just as he doesn’t like others expect much from him.”

Lying down with Light beneath the lake and looking up to the mountains where the sun had already set, Black was radiating her own light in the dark surface as she mused softly, “He didn’t trust the power of the knights when he reclaimed his land, nor did he trusted the support of the Empire’s military. He simply advanced alone in the snow.”

“Everyone says that he has weapons that he doesn’t use and mounts that he doesn’t ride…but that is not right. He would only use us when he has to.”

“He insists on fighting alone so that he wouln’t hurt others in battle, whether weapon or mount. He doesn’t want his weapons to be broken, or for his mount to die.”

One against one, one against many, one against a horde or even the infinite—it was all fine.

Was he keen on fighting? It would be more correct to say ‘challenge’. Still, all in all, both challenge and fight appeared to verify something.

“Master knows that he is abnormal, that the others might not necessary like fighting, to bathe in blood, and death. He knows that others might not like running everywhere across the Void, travelling to other worlds to save lives, or enjoy the near-death experiences…”

“That is why he wouldn’t bring anyone else along and advances alone. He expects nothing from others nor hopes for expectations from others to therefore change their minds and embark paths where they did not belong.”

That gentleness which would not want harm on others and the pride to not share the burden of ‘duty’…that is my Master, a mix of complicated things. How could some shallow label like ‘battle given form’ describe him?

Lifting a hand, Black stroked Light and listened to it jingle while smiling faintly.

“That is why I want to chase after him since I am an Ancient Dragon. I would live forever if nothing unexpected happens, and I could catch up to the edge of eternity if there is an end to time.”

“But it is Master. Even if an end to the Multiverse, he would just break it and make his own path.”

***

On the first of January, Starfall year 849, it was thirty-two past eleven at night when Black and Light both watched the radiance of the binary moon over the skies from beneath deep Paw Print Lake, near the Winter Fort Academy in the Nissia Snow Mountains up North.

“This has been the first year since Master had left Mycroft for the Vortex of Creation.”

***

Indeed, it had been a year after Joshua van Radcliffe had entered the Vortex of Creation.

The moment of departure was approaching.