Soul of Burning Steel

Although Joshua has no soul, his external thinking organ is heavier than a mountain. When he starts to think, there are basically no details that can be hidden from him.

"Your Majesty, are you in the Far South Kingdom now?"

Joshua, who saw the court appearance behind the other party, nodded, and said, "I'll see you right away."

Saying so, he hung up the communication device, his figure spread out, and turned into countless stars and light particles.

At the same time, the royal court of the King of the Far South, Mycroft Continent.

A black-haired man appeared in the side court of the palace.

As one of the old forces in the mainland, although the Far South Kingdom is now much weaker than it was in its heyday, it still has a powerful mage group that arranges various defensive spells for the court, among which anchor space teleportation and prohibit teleportation. Functions such as opening and closing are just the foundation of the foundation. In theory, without permission, even a cockroach cannot touch the royal court.

But spells of this level are just useless to Joshua - the effect of any spell has its upper limit. The imaginary body claims to be immune to all physical attacks, and the flame avatar can completely ignore high-temperature flames, but when the attacker's The fist can induce nuclear fusion, and when the temperature of the high-temperature flame reaches hundreds of millions of degrees that can burn everything, even the soul will be blasted to pieces, and the flame will no longer be a flame.

In the same way, when a being equal to a celestial body wants to teleport itself, it is impossible for mere mortal spells to have any effect.

And just when Joshua manifested his avatar behind the old Pope, Igor had turned his head and asked strangely: "Why are you in such a hurry? Radcliffe, I don't think you are a A guy who cares about current affairs."

For Eagle, the warrior's behavior was indeed a bit strange.

Although he did complain a few things about the current situation in the mainland, and Joshua did say a few days ago that the entire continent had actually been unified, at least reaching a state of peace and harmony—but even if he was deceived by the facts, Slap in the face, shouldn't you rush over in such an annoyed manner?

Even if he ran over, so what? These are all internal affairs of other countries. Strictly speaking, these are things that should have happened. Many conflicts existed hundreds of years ago, but for some reason, they were ignited on the same day.

"...Do you think I ran here just because I couldn't keep up?"

Joshua justly criticized Iger's subjective personal discrimination, and then he told the old pope about the strange phenomenon of internal strife and extinction he observed in the abyss.

Frost demons pollute their breeding pools with venom, acid demons destroy their lairs, Balrogs extinguish volcanoes, salamanders bury lava lakes, horned demons seal their nests in mountains in rocky ruins, and The blood of the abyss dragons living in the deep sea and various marine demons completely dyed the already turbid abyss world into a dirty dark blue.

Twelve worlds of demons, twelve civil wars, twelve traces of destruction, where Joshua has passed, no demons have been spared, this is the first time he has achieved 'everywhere is ruins' without doing anything 'Achievement.

On the other side, the old pope, who was listening to Joshua's story carefully, nodded slightly while listening.

Although, with the life forms of the two, information can be transmitted in the form of light waves, and most things can be explained clearly with a single eye contact, but because of habit and because "the words are more powerful", so Qiao Xiu Ya still chose the original sonic communication system.

After listening to Joshua's guess, Igor, who was originally just a little upset about how to sort out the situation, couldn't help but become serious.

"If everything is as you said... then the matter will be much more serious this time."

Saying so, the old pope raised his head, his eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the wall, and looked at the palace where the royal family lived. He rubbed his forehead and said in a low voice: "Actually, I was also very surprised, why the conflicts would explode in a concentrated way, yours The guess is actually very convincing, is it a sign of the evil god..."

Since the Holy Mountain of the Far Sea itself is located in the Far South, popes of all ages often used incarnations to communicate with the royal family, so in the palace area, there is such a temple-shaped palace dedicated to the church. In order to reconcile the contradiction between the two, Igor's incarnation has been staying here, but no one dares to disturb it.

Thinking about it, the old pope raised his head, looked at Joshua, and said in a low voice, "In this case, Radcliffe, can you guess what kind of evil god is there to provoke such internal strife? Ability?"

"There's no way to guess."

Regarding this, Joshua shook his head: "But it can be speculated."

The abilities of the evil gods are all kinds of strange, and most of their names are their own abilities.

[Imbalance] The evil god has the ability to break the inherent balance of all things, causing energy imbalance, uneven cold and heat. Its recruitment is that the sun is sometimes big and sometimes small, hot and cold, some low-level transcendents lose control of their power, and all kinds of extreme weather Natural disasters appear.

Needless to say [natural disaster] and [plague] evil gods, it is the appearance of simple and easy-to-understand natural disasters and plagues. Back then in the world of Ilgna, I experienced a complete sign of the appearance of evil gods. Although Joshua and others were halfway Joined, but also experienced most of it.

And something like the evil god of [Weakness] is more subtle. Its symptoms are generally that people become lazy and fragile, civilization loses self-motivation, and even anti-intellectualism appears.

But now, the phenomenon of "suspected signs of evil gods" appearing in the surrounding space-time realm is somewhat difficult to describe.

"Cthulhu [infighting]? Cthulhu [dispute]?"

Joshua said to himself: "It's a bit similar, but I feel that I can't fully explain the nature of this evil god... After all, we haven't seen the real body of this evil god, so naturally it is impossible to know the true nature of this evil god." the power of."

But then again.

Starfall 840 years... Isn't this the year in the previous game, when people from all walks of the world joined forces, and after the dragon catastrophe, the whole world blossomed, and they beat each other's brains into dog brains?

The civil strife at that time was much more terrifying than the petty disturbances of today. In the world line without Joshua, the remnants of the dragon disaster still remained, and the various clans did not like each other. The human forces in the eastern plains There have been several small-scale battles with the murloc tribe, and the royal family in the Far South has long lost its real rights—now that the nobles want to overthrow it, it means that the royal family still has the right to peep at them. At that time, The royal family does not even have the value of overthrowing.

The empire is even more chaotic. The heartbroken Israel has basically made arrangements for himself and is waiting to choose a good day to die. Now the princes and daughters who seem to be brothers and sisters have long been It split into God knows how many forces and alliances, and the secret offensive and defensive agreement between any three people may exceed four completely different manuscripts, and its complexity is comparable to Joshua's college women's dormitory in his previous life.

The abyssal demons, I remember, started to infiltrate at that time - I have to say, compared to the original world line, the era that Joshua lives in now is really a play.

At least for now, except for the Emperor Roman in Xishan, all the protests are just protests, and there is no real fight.

Both the Pope and Joshua acquiesced to blame this strange situation on the head of the evil god who didn't know whether it existed or not.

Regardless of whether it is an evil god or not, whether there really is such an existence, to create such a strange phenomenon of civil strife in multiple time and space realms, the two will publicize it in this way, and temporarily transfer all conflicts to the evil god.

Today's world of Mycroft is in a period of rapid recovery and development. Any civil strife and stagnation are a waste of this hard-won golden opportunity. It can even be said that this is even related to the arrival of the evil gods decades later. Whether civilization has the power to fight is a world event.

Even if it turns out that all of this is just a coincidence, and the current chaos within the Mycroft civilization is really just an outbreak of ordinary conflicts, then Joshua and Igor also want to create an "evil god" to cause this conflict. Create a reason that everyone can believe in.

"These days, my incarnation is on the far south side, trying to adjust the conflict between the nobles and the royal family."

After reaching a consensus with Joshua, Igor sat on a chair and took a sip of cold tea: "The system reforms that the nobles and citizens talk about, and those who want an independent dominion, all have very convincing reasons."

The Far South Kingdom was originally a very loose traditional feudal lord country. It is not so much a modern kingdom as it is a loose alliance of many great nobles.

Of course, this is also because in a small Far South, there are the ancients of the Seven Sacred Mountains and the Elven King's Court. Although the Far South Kingdom has an advantage in terms of numbers and territory, in essence, its However, its strength is far weaker than the former two. Affected by this, coupled with the fact that nationalism and nationalism have not yet risen, it is easy to understand that the cohesion of the Far South Kingdom is not strong.

During the Dragon Calamity, although the Far South Kingdom made preparations in advance due to Joshua's reminder, due to the lack of hard power, half of the entire country's territory fell, a large number of nobles perished, and countless civilians were displaced. The army barely organized a defense line and kept the remaining half of the country, but the contradictions also lurked because of this.

Half of the land that was originally occupied, because the nobles who originally ruled the land were all wiped out, the royal family used it as a bait to attract outside talents, and in order to throw out this burden, it was awarded to thirteen heroes who had outstanding performance in fighting against the dragon disaster. Or, this is the origin of the Thirteen Dominions, but this move undoubtedly angered the remaining nobles. They believed that the royal family deliberately used this half of the land and noble territories as a buffer zone to 'sell' to the five-color dragon clan Yes, and because of the warnings of the soldiers, the royal family in the Far South suffered the least loss among the nobles. This also set off a wave of conspiracy theories, which turned into calls for the royal family to abdicate.

In the Thirteen Dominions, which were originally occupied areas, basically all the residents hated the Far South royal family who gave them up so easily, and those lords of the Dominions who became new nobles, firstly, to meet the wishes of the subjects, and secondly, they really felt that independence was right for them. It was better for them, so he also joined the camp of denouncing the royal family.

If you analyze it carefully, you will find that the so-called "sudden conflicts and internal strife" are inherently untenable. As early as a few years ago, countless pains began to precipitate, and now those nobles and lords are urged to cry out Yes, in fact, most of them are not the wishes of these high-level officials themselves, but the pain and tears of the civilians who have suffered from the dragon disaster, lost their relatives, lost their hometown, and lost everything.

Until now, there are still residents from the Far South who live in simple temporary villages and towns, farming with rough farm tools. They live numbly in the mud, and they can't even see the light of the future. Even the nobles are overwhelmed. , the territory is on the verge of collapse.

But even so, the royal family still ignored them, and even acted like ostriches, living in the "illusion of peace" created by themselves, enjoying flowers and wine.

——This is not a civil strife caused by a twitch of the heads of the nobles, nor is it a dispute provoked by the conspirators for their own interests, but simply because people are too painful to live, and people can no longer bear it, and the resistance and roar that broke out at the last moment .

The demonstrations and protests in the eastern plains, under the careful analysis of Joshua and Eagle, also exposed the real contradiction between the two sides.

As the most powerful mage organization in the entire Mycroft, the White Tower of Guantian is naturally the overlord of the eastern plain, occupying nearly half or more of the fertile area. Its existence itself oppresses the living space of many small mage organizations. Ordinary people naturally couldn't understand what these mage masters were going to do, they just passively followed the crowd, and suffered heavy taxes and compulsory labor due to the competition among mages.

That's where the contradictions come from -- on the surface.

In fact, the tendency of the Guantian White Tower to unify most of the eastern plains has already appeared two hundred years ago. Many small organizations are not so much unwilling to join the Guantian White Tower, it is better to say that they are begging to join, but there is no way. It is heavy, but that is compared to the Eastern Plains. In fact, compared with the Western Mountain Kingdoms, the taxation of the Eastern Plains can even be said to be very conscientious, far from the point of death.

But the problem comes from civilians who seem to have nothing to do with it.

In recent years, under the auspices of the White Tower of Guantian, the entire eastern plain has begun to carry out large-scale magic energy technology reforms. A large number of factories and production workshops have appeared in various places. In just half a year, all major cities in the eastern plains have successfully carried out initial mana modifications, and every household has used cheap mana heaters, and the cities no longer need to buy firewood, but can use mana stoves.

However, although in terms of quality of life, the low-level civilians have been greatly facilitated, but those mages obviously did not consider the problem called 'magic energy pollution'.

In fact, it is not right to say that, because in the early days of the magic factory, many high-level mages discovered that the energy furnace core of the magic factory would emit a large amount of colorful magic dust, which carried special magic power that was extremely difficult for humans to absorb. Crystallization, it will cause damage to the body of ordinary people, so they closed some factories to try to find a solution.

This solution is not difficult to find. After learning from the experience of the Northern Empire and adding an anti-pollution circle to the magic energy factory, Guantian Baita began to open a large-scale magic energy factory within its sphere of influence, trying to save itself as much as possible. All the towns within the sphere of influence of the city have undergone modern mana transformations. However, many plans are good to think about, but they look different in practice.

Because the anti-pollution magic circle needs silver-level or even gold-level mages to set up, the funds required for both setting up and maintaining are very high. They are discharged into the atmosphere and even rivers—they themselves don't live near the factory anyway, and the pollution has nothing to do with them, but the villages and towns around the factory will inevitably suffer from it, and even a large number of magic poisoning deaths occurred.

Mages are extremely resistant to the pollution of this special magic power crystal, and can even digest part of the magic power crystal. The so-called magic power pollution is not only not a big threat to them, it can even be said to be a small benefit. In order to ensure the success rate of modern mana energy reforms, the high-level mages of Guantian White Tower also turned a blind eye to this kind of cutting corners, and turned a blind eye... just like those mana energy factory owners thought.

Anyway, it's not that they live in a polluted area, who cares what ordinary people think?

The ordinary people in the eastern plains living in those polluted areas, as well as the small mage forces living around the sphere of influence of the Guantian White Tower, were forced to bear the poison of this pollution.

What can they say and do?

They can't do anything.

In the eastern plains, mages and non-mages are two classes. Even transcendents of other professions, unless they reach the gold level, will naturally be inferior to mages, and ordinary people needless to say, the meaning of their existence, Just to produce new mage seeds, as long as a commoner has the talent of casting spells, he will be immediately drawn into this circle and assimilated by this circle.

Ordinary humans, in the eyes of mages, are not even considered fourth-class people.

They are just tools in the eyes of mages, humanoid equipment used to produce basic resources, they are not respected at all, and they are not allowed to have any doubts or opinions—even because they are not spellcasters, even their lives are not spared. In the eyes of those mages.

——Could it be possible that Master Mage can’t think of the problem? Where do you civilians have the wisdom and courage to question the mage's order, just do it obediently.

——Ridiculous, will the orders above be changed because of your complaints? You are the one who should adapt!

——Pollution and so on will be resolved in the future, as for now, just bear with it, the sacrifice now is a necessary sacrifice for progress and for the truth.

——However, we won't remember your names, hahahahaha!

As a result, sorrow spread, countless families cried, men lost their wives and daughters, women lost their husbands and sons, some villages with serious pollution even lost half of their population, and the remaining people were all mutated and deformed. No one could bear this. A life, unless he doesn't see himself as human, loses his resistance genes, forgets the last roar.

The marches that took place on the eastern plains, like the revolutions that took place in the Far South Kingdom, were not essentially civil strife and disputes.

It was a cry of despair before dying because of sorrow.

As for the Northern Empire... To be honest, if it wasn't for Joshua not sweating now, he would really be glad to wipe off his cold sweat.

Because he knew very well that compared to the Far South and the Eastern Plains, if it weren't for Israel's Skynet plan a few days ago, the "sadness" accumulated at the bottom of the Northern Empire would definitely be ten times and a hundred times that of these two places.

Years of war with the orcs, heavy taxation pressure, open and secret struggles between old and new nobles, and shadow disputes in private. As a traditional aristocratic empire, nobles have the right to ask for whatever they want from common people, even from the original imperial law. In other words, ordinary people who are not citizens themselves are the property of the lord.

Protection fees from gangsters, human traffickers secretly smuggling people, land oppression and annexation of small households by big families, arrogant exploitation and abuse by nobles... Under the surface of the Northern Empire's victory over the orcs and the blooming flowers, it has long been riddled with holes. , devastated.

As long as there is a fire ignited, the foundation of the empire will collapse. This is why in the previous life, after the death of Israel, the great emperor who suppressed the situation, the seemingly powerful northern empire split on the spot and fell into a full-scale civil war without any delay. s reason.

Because compared to living in the dark, ordinary people would rather die in the flames of war.

"So, Israel's total and absolute dictatorship is really a good thing..."

Thinking of this, Joshua couldn't help sighing: "Justice doesn't proclaim itself, only power can... Haha, [Lightless justice needs power to proclaim.], I didn't expect that the empire is still in a state of relaxation now, really. caused by the justice of might."

The current Northern Empire is much better than before. At least Israel has publicly executed a large number of despicable nobles with extremely bad reputations, and has also completely wiped out God knows how many gangsters, turning the bottom of the entire empire into one. net.

In addition, many recent policies have made ordinary people's lives better, so the sadness that was hidden in the darkness did not break out, and turned into a wave of resistance like the Far South and Eastern Plains.

People who have lost the target of hatred and lived a good life are forgetful. Their requirement is to live with dignity. As long as they can eat enough and have the right to speak out, no matter how critical the situation is, they will become The power of civilization, not the other way around.

After analyzing the truth of the contradictions in the three regions, Joshua and Eagle turned their attention to the final Xishan region.

Then, the two of them couldn't analyze anything.

No matter how you look at it, the Emperor Roman in Xishan just started to expand and annex because of his rising power. Relatively speaking, this is actually the most normal party.

After all, for the Mycroft Continent, especially Xishan, fighting is the norm, and not fighting is weird. Many kingdoms have been fighting piecemeal for hundreds of years, and now there is a powerful force that unifies the surrounding area, which is still considered It’s a good thing—ordinary people are also happy to see the results. After all, if you have military exploits, you can be promoted to nobles. After a war, the war dividends alone can make the residents of the country eat for a long time, not to mention the chance to become nobles. ?

As for the residents of other countries... Alas, in a place like Xishan, it is a great honor to be a resident of a powerful country. According to Eagle's information, there are even many residents of other countries who voluntarily defect to Emperor Roman's side. With the momentum of a hundred kingdoms coming to court - if this newborn strongman can be recognized by the psionic royal families in Xishan, and the holy swordsman family, he might really be able to unify the entire Xishan region.

"So... is it very likely that it's not the evil god?"

Thinking about the results of his own analysis, after whispering a word to himself, Igor couldn't help but think of the fate of the many demons that Joshua said, and he was a little puzzled: "But this can't explain the mutation on the other side of the abyss." .”

"I think it's the evil god."

Joshua insisted on his opinion, he frowned and said: "At least, our world is still stable, and most people can survive, but on the other side of the abyss, those races whose civilization is dying and the world is on the verge of destruction, their accumulation 'Sorrow and despair' must be thousands of times ours."

"In our world, there may only be a little civil strife and strife, and it is foreseeable that it can be resolved, but the civil strife and strife among the demons can completely destroy them, completely shattering their hope of struggling to survive."

"Despair because of sorrow, destruction because of despair, days without hope, it is better to die... If behind this, it is indeed caused by the influence of the evil god's sign, then the name of this evil god."

Having said that, Joshua's head paused, he let out a breath, and said in a deep voice, "It should be [sadness] or [despair]."

"Your Majesty, there is no need to care about such weak things as 'internal affairs of other countries' now. This is a question of the survival of civilization. I suggest that the legendary powerhouse take action immediately and directly intervene in these 'sadness and despair'. source."

In fact, there are examples of these things...

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