Soul of Burning Steel

[My teacher, the venerable Baron Karlis, is a famous astronomer, astronomer and master of alchemy engineering. She is the champion of the 52nd "Mobile World Urban Design Competition" once in a hundred years, and this is the highest achievement in super architectural engineering in the entire "Three Realms and Nine Heavens". For this reason, the Queen of Heavenly Sword in the Shining Region personally bestowed her knighthood. , And a brand new mobile world city is also named after her.

In addition, she is also an extremely legendary and well-known great "continent explorer" in the Three Realms. In the vast and infinite steel continent, there are a total of eight "stable star realms" that she has discovered and determined the stars. The law of circulation Today, those eight stable star realms have become the new frontiers of the shining region of the League of Nations. There are hundreds of billions of new immigrants, driving a brand new "mobile world city", chasing the brilliance of the sun there. .

And all this is the teacher's credit. 】

[As a disciple of Teacher Karlis, I feel very honored and low self-esteem, because even if I exhaust my life, there is no way to surpass the teacher in any field, even if it is a little bit.

But at this time, Mrs. Carllys’ close friend, my immediate boss, Ms. Mike Rove, the Royal University scholar, would comfort me, ‘Among a group of people, there must be someone as a foil, so why can’t it be you? This is your mission. To be honest, I don't know exactly what Ms. Mykrov means, but her tone is very sincere, so I will use it as an incentive for my boss. 】

[Mr. Karlis has many disciples, and most of them are about "Mobile World Urban Design". After all, the more advanced the technology of the mobile world city, the faster it will be. After the stars in the area have submerged into the steel continent, it will take the shortest time to go to the next stable star realm. Naturally, the more likely it is to strike. Retreating from the attacks of chaotic monsters wandering in the dark zone between the many star realms, it is one of the most important disciplines in the entire shining region, and it means the future of civilization.

And I am not a student of the teacher in this area. I am ashamed to say that I was just an assistant she hired when she explored the continent of steel. The teacher would accept me as a student and teach knowledge about exploration. It is a blessing for Sansheng, and I have benefited a lot from it. Nowadays, I am not too young, and I can be regarded as a well-known Bachelor of Exploration. I have formed my own family in the Shining area. 】

[But recently, my teacher has encountered a little trouble.

Her best friend, my boss, the Royal University Scholar Ms. Mike Rov Zelloya, mysteriously disappeared during an exploration of the'Dusk Region'. Before she disappeared, Ms. Mykrov sent the map and log she explored through private psionic communication to my elegant, wise, and noble teacher. Since then, the teacher has always appeared worried, even holding his head occasionally, talking to himself in a low voice.

"Really? It's so... Time flies, it's been so long..."

Once, when I carefully served the teacher a coffee with twice as much sugar, I heard the teacher talk to himself like this. Is she talking about the time she met Ms. Mycroft? It seems that the disappearance of Ms. Mykrov is indeed a very big blow to her. 】

[But even so, I never imagined that the teacher who has already achieved fame would actually embark on an adventure again for this. After she has completely processed her assets in the Union of Nations in the Shining Region, this famous academic master will Purchased an Ark-class continental exploration ship. She threw away the jewels on her head and chest, tied her ponytail, took off her gorgeous and bloated dress, and replaced it with capable short lining and trousers. Soon, hundreds of An admirable professional explorer joined her team, ready to embark on the journey to the'Twilight Zone' once again under the leadership of this legendary explorer! 】

A middle-aged man stretched out his hand and stroked the words on an old diary under the light.

I can hear it, the man sighed softly. He stared at the paragraphs of words above it, seeming to be lost in memory.

"Teacher..." he whispered to himself, then showed a bitter smile.

[Three Realms and Nine Heavens]. This is the name of this world. As the name implies, the so-called three realms are [the central realm of the continent of steel] where all living beings live, [the sword realm of the sky] and [the realm of the axe of the earth] intersecting the central realm, and the nine heavens are nine pieces suspended in the steel. Above the continent, the super floating continent is huge enough to cover the sky. Unfortunately, because of the terrifying gravity of the steel continent, so far, no one has climbed into the nine heavens. Even the gods can only look far away and sigh. .

Countless suns rise and fall on the infinitely wide continent. They penetrate the nine layers of heaven and earth. The dazzling sunlight gives vitality to the hundreds of millions of ecosystems on this endless continent.

The Continent of Steel is vast and vast. So far, no matter if it is the "Age of Gods" 100,000 years ago or the "Age of Chaos" 50,000 years ago, no explorer has ever explored its end. And its central area is an extremely wide, bright ‘ring belt’ shrouded by a huge group of stars, and this is the so-called ‘sparkle area’.

The shining area is the center of civilizations of all nations and races. After the stars are not worried about submerging into the steel continent, the world falls into a dark and bright zone. All civilizations can bathe in eternal light in the cycle of alternating stars, falling and rising. No need to worry about being attacked by those chaotic monsters living in the dark.

The ‘dusk area’ refers to the ‘blaze area’, where there are scattered stars, but there is no guarantee that every place will have a shining area all the time. There, the few stars will also be sucked into the earth due to the huge gravitational force of the steel continent, but even if the steel continent will recreate stars, it will be at least hundreds of thousands of years later, and shining. The area is different. In the twilight zone, there are no other dozens or hundreds of stars that can continue to illuminate that area after a star falls on the ground.

Therefore, the colonies built by the nations in this place, the huge'mobile world cities', must bring tens of billions of people across the continent, chasing after the rising and falling stars, bathing them. Light.

It is precisely because of this that all the beings living on the Continent of Steel, no matter how strange their shapes are, call themselves [Light Chasers].

Although we are fully prepared, because of various circumstances, there are often "mobile world cities" who have not had time to travel to other solar regions in time before the energy reserves are exhausted, causing everyone in the entire world city to die of ice and cold. Or be swallowed by the chaos in the dark. After all, a “stable stellar realm” with a stable stellar circulation system is very rare and precious. Each one means a living environment similar to the shining region, which can supply hundreds of billions of dollars. People, more than a dozen cities in the mobile world survive.

Therefore, the twilight area is very dangerous. When exploring, explorers will often find urban ruins that were destroyed tens of thousands of years ago, but living outside the twilight area, the chaotic monsters in the [no light zone], Occasionally, it will lurk into the twilight area, and when the sun goes down and the light dissipates, it will attack those moving cities that want to be transferred.

Legend has it that 100,000 years ago, the gods of the age of the gods could create stars in the twilight area, and center on them, build huge floating cities, and even the huge energy arrays that enveloped an entire star to create a stable The glorious location creates a splendid civilization. But 50,000 years ago, all the gods lost their power inexplicably, and countless floating cities fell. Even the energy cage that was enough to imprison the stars was lost because of the loss of power and could not resist the excessive gravity. It collapsed with the falling of the stars. Solution, perish in the earth of steel.

This is a dark age that has lasted for nearly 20,000 years. The demise of countless lives, the destruction of countless civilizations, and the dissipation of infinite rays of light make infinite, living outside the'dusk region', that is a'non-light zone' without any stellar light The chaotic monsters in the rush came out. These civilizations and the greatest natural enemies of life unscrupulously swallowed everything at that time, and the sentient beings who had lost the protection of the gods were unable to resist this sudden destruction, and could only continue from The twilight area retreated and withdrew to the shining area. Until now, in some remote corners of the twilight area, you can still see the terrible remnants of that war. In the ruins, there is still a screaming wind wailing.

However, at this desperate moment, there is endless light coming from [Heavenly Sword World] and [Earth Axe World].

It is a holy sword and a magic axe, and there are thousands of thousands of weapons with different shapes. They have been immobile since ancient times, falling into the two unknown worlds intersecting with the steel continent, beheading the endless chaos, and the light chasers who were unable to fight the chaos at that time picked up this coming from the end of the world. The courageous sacrifices of countless heroes of the "artifact of God" put an end to the "Era of Chaos" and drove all the chaotic monsters back to the No Light Zone once again.

They believe that these'artifacts of the gods' are made from the corpses of the gods that have long since passed away, and that being able to barely control the existence of the'Open Heaven Sword' and the'Devil Slayer' is the supreme leader of the Union of Nations in the Shining Region today Those, the'Empress of the Heavenly Sword' and the'March of Demon Slayer'. Until now, no matter who they are, even the sons of criminals or exiles, as long as they can master a divine tool, their sins will be automatically wiped out, and they will directly become the nobles of the League of Nations, shouldering the responsibility of guarding the frontier.

[The Empress of Heavenly Sword, personally bid farewell to the teacher. Her Majesty blessed the teacher's car "Reburn" and wished her a smooth return from exploration. At that time, because of the birth of my eldest daughter, I was unable to follow the teacher to the dusk area, which I have to say is a huge regret. The magnanimous teacher Karlis did not blame my assistant and student for his negligence. Instead, he congratulated my daughter on the birth and was willing to name her. This is the glory of my wife and me, and also the blessing of my daughter. 】

["It's called'Sibaya'. I remember, she should be called by this name. I have to say, this is really nostalgic. You fellow, you are really fate."]

[Although the teacher's words are a bit strange, the sincere tone and extremely sincere blessings are not false. And my eldest daughter, Sibeya Falster, also got her own name because of this, and her finger-biting smile is the greatest happiness of my life. 】

[Ten years have passed, Teacher Karlis has gained fruitful explorations. Amidst the ups and downs of the stars, she found the remains of several ancient floating cities in the chaotic age, and found a new stable star boundary teacher here. She has a unique sense of smell, that is, she can find places suitable for life. To be honest, some are not very respectful. I always think that this has nothing to do with the teacher's level of learning. This is a godsend gift!

During this time, my second child was about to be born, a boy, but when I was thinking about a name for him, bad news came. 】

[It was a gloomy afternoon, the artificial sky dome of the capital of learning was slowly closing, and it began to absorb the sun's brilliance at full power, and many of the bachelors who lived in it also finished their work and returned home to rest. I was reviewing the papers of several graduate students, but accidentally received a communication from a senior brother. Until then, I was shocked to know that my teacher full of exploration spirit returned to the embrace of the light in the distant dusk area. A suddenly falling star smashed the earth of steel, and the torrent of blazing flames swallowed everything within three light months, and my teacher, hundreds of professional explorers, and two thousand five hundred crew members just melted away in this way. Too bright light. 】

[The teacher died in a glorious exploration, this is the bad news of the entire shining region of the nations and nations. The Queen of Heavenly Sword and Lord Demon Slayer said that the death of Baron Karlis was the loss of all light chasers. All the colonial people living in the stable star boundary discovered by the teacher had a three-minute silence for her death. . As a bachelor, this is already the highest honor, but I still can’t believe that the elegant and wise university scholar, the most famous astral astronomer, would have died in such a simple astronomical phenomenon, but the fact is the fact. The teacher really can't come back. I was so sad that I went crazy and even regretted not dying with the teacher in that great exploration.

But soon, even more shocking news appeared. Just half a year after the teacher's departure, after all the disturbances ended, I suddenly received an extremely secret psionic communication, and what followed was the teacher's secret will!

It was an advanced small exploration ship, a lot of wealth, several information crystals packed full of information, and most importantly, the star map of all the regions that the teacher had explored over the years! And on this star map, there are several specially marked points, and it happens that the place where the teacher's ‘death’ is located is exactly in the area marked by one of the marked points! There are even a few marking points and path diagrams, located in the depths of the dull zone, outside the area of ​​dusk today!

Teacher Karlis gave all these properties to me free of charge, and also left a meaningful ‘prophecy’. 】

[‘On the day when the salaries are exhausted, when the flames reignite. ’】

My student, Alpha Falster, the son of the silver fairy, is not an ordinary ordinary person. You still don't know the meaning of your existence, but I know it.

Go, head to the end of the steel continent, the frontier of the world. You have to open that door, then go to the center of the mainland, the core of the Three Realms, and extinguish the existing flames. That is something that only you can do.

[A month later, I am. I bid farewell to my wife and children, and after leaving a large fortune for them, I decided to explore the unknown according to the star map left by the teacher. Although I don’t know what the teacher is talking about, I know that this is indeed something that only I can do. I want to be the greatest explorer in the entire continent of steel. This is my dream, but I was sealed because of love and responsibility, and now, because of the teacher's will, because of the curiosity that was re-awakened, the selfish me decided to start again and embark on a journey that belongs only to me. 】

[There is no other person, only myself, and twenty-five artificial intelligence crew members. I can vaguely feel the turbulent undercurrent lurking behind the teacher. I don’t even dare to tell the news to other close friends and declare to the public that I just suddenly went crazy and wanted to go out alone. It’s nothing strange. Explore These are basically such people, who will go out on a whim and will not return for more than ten years. 】

[The exploration ship the teacher left for me is really very advanced, absorbing the sun's rays, I quickly moved out of the shining area and came to the dusk area. After decades of exploration, I was a little rusty at first, and even misidentified the direction. I took tens of thousands of light-years of detours, but soon I picked up my expertise again and changed back to that greatness. The right-hand man beside the explorer This time, I am the captain.

However, it is strange that decades have passed, but the number of colonies in the twilight area has not increased but decreased. I wandered in familiar areas for 700,000 light-years, and after hundreds of colonies, I found the stars. The number is about one-third less than before. This is very abnormal. Decades of time are very short for the lifespan of the stars on the steel continent for thousands of years. Even if their ultimate fate is to fall to the earth, it will not be so short. One-third of the time died out.

I continued to wander, and more and more discoveries proved my guess that the number of stars is rapidly declining, whether they can breed life or those that cannot breed life. Originally, the endless stars floating on the Continent of Steel could be used by us. As a source of life, only about one-hundredths of a billionths of them were available. This is especially true in the dusk area, even within a range of hundreds of thousands of light years. Hundreds of stars that are just right in height and can be used by us. In the age of the gods, the gods can move the floating continent, adjust the distance freely, and then use the sun as much as possible, but for the light chaser who is bound by gravity on the surface of the earth, we can only pray.

Perhaps it was because I lived in a shining zone with endless stars, so I was very insensitive to the number of stars, but now, in the twilight area where every star is precious, I can see clearly. But even if it can hold hundreds of stars, it has been reduced by a third. Many cities in the mobile world that I was familiar with are now invisible, and the people in them have disappeared silently. Re-exist. I believe this is no accident. Leaving this colonial area and going to another colonial area a few million light years away must be the same. 】

[The disappearance of many stars, not the death of the teacher, the disappearance, there must be something hidden behind it! In order to explore the truth, I began to go deep into the dusk area to find possible clues around the colony. All traces were erased, and the trajectory of the stars no longer existed, but I believe that no matter who it is, it is also It is impossible to erase all the traces of these billions of stars. In the depths of the dusk area, there must be clues that they are unable to erase.

Soon, following the star map left by the teacher, I followed a safe route into the depths of the dusk area. There are hardly any colonies of all nations here, even if there are, they are just sporadic isolated frontier cities and here, I did find a clue! I saw that the trajectories of tens of thousands of stars were sliding under nine days, and the long space-time dents left by their movements were so obvious that I could see their direction in an instant.

And the direction they go back is the ring of the shining area of ​​my hometown. 】

[Have to say, I am beginning to wonder why? The stars in the shining area are endless, and there is no shortage of light shining. In the past few decades, I have never felt the slightest sign of fading brilliance... Even recently, many academicians have proposed that the stars of the world should be shining. Migrate into the twilight area and open up more colonies. Otherwise, even the livable area in the Shining area will soon be filled with life that has continued to multiply for tens of thousands of years.

Could it be that they intend to gather the stars in the twilight area and expand the boundary of the shining area? But this is too laborious and unpleasant to pull the stars is not a simple matter. Except for the Queen of Heavenly Sword and the Maharaja of Demon Slayer, in the entire Shining Region, no more than 20 people can do this. Even if they join hands, it is also It is impossible to migrate hundreds of millions of stars within a few decades! Behind this, there must be a bigger mystery! 】

[With this doubt, I ended this exploration and returned home tiredly, but it was not the smiling faces of my wife and daughter that greeted me, or the disgust that blamed me for a long time...I would rather disgust, because What I saw was an empty home and a letter left by the Ashes.

The Ashes Order is a mysterious order that appeared after the gods fall. They control a large number of divine artifacts and claim that they are the embers left after the gods fall. They take the name of the Queen of Heavenly Sword and the Great Lord The leader of the sect is actually controlled by the elders of the sect, responsible for managing the gift and recovery of all divine artifacts.

They and I are basically people from two worlds. One is a violent political group with real power, and the other is a bachelor of the capital of learning. But today, I was threatened by them in a cold tone. My wife and daughter are now being held in a secret place. They warned me not to try to explore the changes of the stars in the twilight area, and to leave the shining area, otherwise their lives will be unsafe, and I will undoubtedly die. 】

[At the same time, to prove their determination, they also sent a small hand bone that is my son's hand bone. Presumably, if I don't listen to them, it will be his head next time.

In addition to anger, my heart was full of fear. I awakened from an overly vast fantasy and found that I was just an ordinary person, losing the aura of Teacher Karlis. I was just a rather notorious explorer, ordinary Bachelor of Astronomy is only, let alone contending with the Ashes, as long as the other party hints at the leader of the Capital of Knowledge, I will lose all my glory and become an inconspicuous dust on the side of the road. 】

[I want to come, the disappearance of Teacher Karlis is also related to them, right? If there is no relationship between the existence of stars that can pull the stars, and that accidental star fall, I definitely don't believe it.

But what can you do if you don't believe it or not? I am a bereaved dog, and I can only flee in a desperate manner. I sit on the exploration ship gifted by the teacher and walk aimlessly in the dusk area... But can I really let go of the truth? Whether it’s the disappearance of the teacher, the drift of the stars, or where my missing wife and daughter are... They threaten me with their lives and deaths, but they don’t give any information that they are still alive. How can I believe them? Will they let them go, just being imprisoned? 】

[But I can only go far, go far, and no longer pay attention to the changes of the stars, I can only go far, to the borders of the world, the deepest part of the dusk. 】

[I came to the dull zone. I came to a light spot marked on the teacher's star map. 】

A middle-aged man's hand stroked the text on the diary. The last paragraph of the sentence, the ink trace is very clear, it seems to have been written not long ago. Then, these hands closed the log and put it in the backpack on one side.

"Teacher, I have followed your guidance and came here."

On a seemingly ‘small’ hill, next to an exploratory ship with a smooth and firm shell and a very advanced look, a middle-aged man was looking up and looking at the distant light.

Standing on the Continent of Steel, there is only a mere 17.29 million meters of hills, standing on the top of the undulating land of this size, that is, two "moving world cities", with silver hair and red eyes, and he is called The man who was the'Silver Fairy' looked tiredly into the bright distance.

He could see that billions and billions of suns floated on the vast steel continent, bringing bright light to everything in the dark, but likewise, clusters of dark chaos move along with them, and they hide in all that there is no sun. The dark zone lurks, waiting for ~www.novelmtl.com~ waiting for the day when the sun will fall and all the cities chasing the sun will lose their shelter.

In the same way, he could see that in the center of all this, in the nine heavens and the earth, the three big worlds are in the center of the nine heavens of the three realms, there is a superstar that can never be seen in the shining area, in the twilight area!

That is an extremely huge, extremely heavy, just existence, like a superstar that has swallowed all the sense of existence in this world, dark and obliterated all light!

The entire continent of steel is nothing but the accretion disk surrounding the black giant, the infinite stars are nothing but a little light fog surrounding the black giant, and the shining area on which all civilizations, all living beings depend, are right. It is a thin layer, the irregular narrow ring area surrounding it.

Is it really a star? But how can the stars be so huge! The black superstar attracts everything, rotates everything, it rotates, as if it is the axis of these three realms and nine heavens, the infinite world!

Middle-aged men can see that at its edge, the boundary between the steel continent and it is emitting an extremely strong light, and countless stars in the shining zone are floating in this light, releasing endless vitality... But no matter it is Any intelligent life, no matter it is anyone, does not know why, but can instinctively know that this superstar that illuminates the'shine area', this'brilliance' that has bred endless beings, has actually died long ago.

It has long gone out.

Everything today, the seemingly magnificent billions of stars and endless brilliance, are nothing but embers left over at the most glorious moment in this world.

"On the day when the salaries are exhausted, when the flames reignite."

The student of Karlis, Maikroff's subordinate, and Sibya's father, the ordinary man named Alpha Falster, was whispering in confusion.

"Could it be that this black star..."

"That's it, is it going to be rekindled?"