Soul of Searing Steel

Chapter 127: A Prolonged Slumber

Brandon who followed Joshua over witnessed the entire incident. He looked at Joshua who was obviously not in a good mood. Then he attempted to comfort the warrior calmly, “Joshua, there’s no reason to be anxious. This is most probably the ability of the Divine Armament to enhance themselves. This is actually a good thing.”

Even though the golden-haired swordsman did not have a clear idea about thing related to Divine Armaments, he could at least still tell that Ying’s breath was calm at the moment. She was not in any sort of danger.

“Is that so? Just improvement?”

Joshua repeated after Brandon. His eyes still showed signs of worry. His emotions were not stable at the moment. “Although I did not really care much about this, now, this thing is indeed a little strange…”

Ying only started to keep sleeping very recently. Ever since Joshua destroyed the dimensional rift, and the two of them returned from Moldova, Ying seemed to be exhausted all the time. Meanwhile, the horse back in his place was also behaving strangely. It had been cranky all the while since then. Although the horse would calm down again the moment he approached the horse, however, the horse would randomly get cranky all of a sudden.

Not just that. Joshua felt a little depressed recently. He was also not feeling that well…

Right beside Joshua, Brandon was still recalling on his past memories. He went through his thoughts a little and explained it to the warrior. “Normally, the level of the Divine Armament and the Master should be equal. However, this Ying is only an Upper Silver when you’re already a Gold… Wait a minute, did you just hit Upper Gold tier?!!”

Just when he was talking to Joshua, he was also observing the aura on Joshua. After that, he took in a cold breath. He lost his composure and started ranting. “You were still an Intermediate Gold when you were battling me! No, I can still remember that three months ago, when you were still in the Black Raven Army, you were just an Upper Silver-tier warrior!”

“That’s right.”

Pinching the face of his Divine Armament several times, Joshua had confirmed that Ying was in deep sleep right now. She did not seem to be responding to any stimuli in her surroundings anymore. After that, Joshua replied, “The Seven Gods are right above us. It is most probably because of the gods’ blessing. That was how I get to advance to a new higher tier after we battled against each other.”

Bullsh*t! This is not something that can be explained with gods’ blessing or whatsoever! Even the Divine Armament who made a pact with you could not catch up with your pace of leveling up! Are you some sort of god reincarnated as a human?!

Upon hearing that reason, Brandon’s face became twisted. He was instantly left speechless. Suddenly, he felt an intense pressure deep down his heart. This monster that was standing right before him only spent three months to get from Silver tier all the way to Upper Gold tier. Could it be possible that he would become a Supreme tier being by next year? Could it be possible that he could become Legendary tier by the year after next year?

Based on his current speed of advancement, it was not impossible!

The truth was, even the Emperor himself only hit Legendary tier at the age of forty-seven. However, how old was Joshua now? Was he even half the age of the Emperor? Even if Joshua needed more time than expected, he would still potentially hit Legendary tier before he hit thirty! Meanwhile, if Brandon who knew to be a prodigy in such regard did not put effort into advancing to a higher level and higher tier, he would be left behind completely, right?

In any case, the swordsman knew he was thinking too far ahead.

The fact that Joshua could actually level up so insanely fast was because Joshua had plenty of monsters to slay. Meanwhile, along with his level increasing, he would need more Experience Points and high-level monsters to slay. If it wasn’t because of the Dark Tide that happened recently and the few Gold-tier daemons that tagged along with the Dark Tide, without the special effect of the additional Passive Skill of the Chaos Guardian called [Light of Evil’s Bane] that provided 30% additional Experience Points for killing Chaos daemons, he would only be a Lower Gold-tier warrior at this point.

Carrying Ying in his arms like one would a princess, Joshua noticed that she was very light, much lighter than her greatsword form. In addition, her body was small as well, smaller than her weapon form. He could not get used to the unusual feeling of holding her in his arms like that.

Regardless of whether it was the greatsword that was as large as a door or the burly body of the warrior, Ying was just too small when compared to them.

“So, I usually use this little girl to fight and slaughter the daemons, huh? That’s really just like child abuse.”

Upon imagining it a little, he could not help but laugh at his own thought. Joshua’s mood had improved a little. Although he was still worried, however, regardless of anything, it was a good thing that Ying could level up. That was what he thought of.

“Let’s go. Let’s get back to the main city first.”

Joshua turned his head and nodded at Brandon. Currently, there was nothing he could do in the middle of the snowy land. It would be best to get Ying back to the city as soon as possible. After all, the warrior had no knowledge about any healing skill or technique. Although his Profession was a blacksmith, he was not foolish enough to think that just any blacksmith would be able to tamper with this life form. It would would be better to just let her recalibrate.

“Alright.”

After getting a brief reply from the golden-haired swordsman, the two men walked towards the main city not far away from them.

Meanwhile, the old mage that was hiding above the city was still in a daze.

“I mean…”

Taking a deep look at the two people who are heading towards the main city, Nostradamus mumbled to himself, “The fluctuations that just occurred are exactly right!”

“Supreme…”

Looking at the two men walking towards the main city, Nostradamus muttered to himself, “The energy wave just now, it was indeed Supreme!”

Back when he first noticed that Joshua had advanced into Upper Gold-Tier, the old mage did not feel any response from it. Due of this [Supreme], the old mage’s relaxed face immediately tensed up. “If it was just his Strength, it could still be explained with Gift. However, [Supreme] is a realm that requires time to accumulate and adjust. There is no shortcut or any way to fake it!”

However, that became awkward. So how could a 23-year-old young man such a profound base form to cultivate out the power of [Supreme] then?!

Staying in the sky and hesitated for a brief moment, the old mage made the decision not to visit the new Count of Moldavia for the time being. Instead, he decided to get over to the dimensional rift in order to seal it first.

After sealing that rift, he wanted to spend the remaining time to observe the warrior to see how he reached the realm of [Supreme]!

Meanwhile, right in the middle of the snowy land before the city wall.

Joshua suddenly halted. Then he looked around and spoke doubtfully, “I can feel that there is someone spying on us… I had the same feeling back when we were battling against each other.”

Meanwhile, Brandon had also looked into the sky and muttered to himself, “Indeed, I sebse ut as wekk… However, there’s nothing there in the sky or our surroundings.”

The two did not get themselves bothered by such a trivial thing. It would not matter at all even if there was someone spying on their battle. With their current strength, even though they were both injured, they were combatants that even normal Gold-tier combatants could not take on.

After walking through the frozen land, passing through the hills and snowfields, the main city had finally appeared right before Joshua’s eyes. The black wall resembled a giant lying between the land of snow and the city, covering half of the vision. Meanwhile, the guards of the city’s defending force had also noticed the arrival of their count with a guest. So they opened the city gates ahead of schedule and went out to greet the warrior.

Walking through the streets noticing they were bumpy, Joshua walked slowly. When he arrived at the manor at the west side of the city, it was already twenty minutes later.

“The count’s mansion was destroyed while I was attempting to take back my throne as the liege of this territory. This is a temporary mansion.”

Upon entering the mansion, Joshua noticed the doubt on Brandon’s face. So he quickly explained it to Brandon. After that, he turned his head around and instructed the female servants that were right beside them, “Please escort this gentleman to the bathroom. Get this man an outfit of his size… and get me a set of clothes as well.”

“Yes, my liege.”

After the golden-haired swordsman was escorted from the main hall, the warrior carried Ying and walked straight to the bedroom on the second floor.

As Joshua usually did not need sleep, he would only close his eyes for hours as he took some rest in his study room. The Divine Armament on the other hand never needed rest. Hence, the two bedrooms looked brand new, with no traces of people using them at all. Throwing back the blanket on the bed, he finally put the young silver-haired girl to the bed.

The spiritual body of the humanoid Divine Armament was free from dust and had the function of cleaning themselves automatically. Therefore, the warrior had no further concerns. He covered the blanket back onto the bed with only Ying’s head left uncovered on the bed. The young girl’s face was flushed. Her breathing was becoming calmer and steadier now. She did not seem to realized she was just put to bed by the warrior.

“This feels really strange. I felt like I’m taking care of a daughter that’s having a fever… I’ve never been married before. I’ve single this whole time.”

Looking at Ying’s face, Joshua spaced out a little. After that, he laughed and shook his head. Then he stood up and got himself ready for a bath. He wanted to change himself into something more comfortable.

Time passed fast.

Brandon left early in the evening and made his way back to the Imperial City after he bid the warrior farewell. More than a week later, the merchants from Moldova arrived the main city. The respectful merchants and the messengers that came on behalf of Vale Dani had delivered the black dragon’s bones, the exoskeleton of the dracospider and many more daemons’ raw materials. All of them expressed their greatest respect and adoration for Joshua. Some of them even attempted to abandon their family property only to be an attendant or a knight serving under the warrior. Joshua simply rejected their offer, of course.

The days were boring after he became the liege of the territory, especially when it was winter where snow was brewing in that region. In such season where it was too cold for people to even breathe properly, Joshua could not farm or drag his troops for training. All he could do was listen to the cold howling wind between the tower and the wall of the city, looking far into the Dark Forest that seemed to have regain its life force. The snow was pouring and piling up in the city. After that, the snow was swiftly swept away by the citizens of the city.

The chilly wind gradually stopped, and the cold weather had gradually warmed up. Time passed as swiftly as breathing; it was already one month later.

However, Ying had yet to wake up.