Soul of Searing Steel

Chapter 131: I Will Find a New Partner If You Still Refuse to Wake Up

The power of steel was one of the world’s most diverse energy.

Based on the legends, the Initial Flame and Primordial Steel created the world of Mycroft. The source of all existence came from Primordial Steel.

Living beings which had more energy and larger body size would probably have the most ‘steel’ within their bodies. However, no matter how strong the ‘steel’ was, it was not something that could be easily controlled by the living. Mortal flesh could never ignite the potential of the power. Only by utilizing some special methods or facing a life and death situation would there be a certain probability which could awaken the power from within. All the warriors would have to go through a [Steel Revelation]. Only those who succeed could ascend from mortal to a Steel-tier combatant.

Humans had a very high chance in successful awakening. In theory, as long as a person is still living, they would still have the chance to awaken their ‘steel’ within, even if they were old and weak. For other beings such as insects and rats, their bodies are too fragile and might result in their deaths even if awakening was successful.

Those who successfully awaken would be blessed by the power of ‘steel’ from within would gain more power and strength. These powers were mostly hidden and would not reflect on their physique. They might look small and weak on the outside, but their strength could not be underestimated.

Training without the assistance of an external substance might not be easy to increase the number of ‘steel’ and enhance their quality within their body. Those warriors who did not come from a family with rich inheritance on the knowledge of ‘steel’ would have to bathe themselves with the blood of daemons, devouring their innards to strengthen their ‘steel’. This may be a very risky path to take. As long as someone were to step into this path, he would definitely be exposed to numerous scenes of slaughter and death. There were about hundreds of Silver-Tier knights within the northern lands were all due to their effort in slaying Daemon all night long within this place. The continuous activity of devouring each other had allowed these warriors without any form of legacy to surpass their own body limits.

“… she is different from humans.”

After observing for a while, Clyre was able to figure out Ying’s secret with her vast knowledge. “A homunculus?”

Nostradamus was shocked and asked, “Joshua, this little girl here is your Divine Armament?”

The existence of Divine Armaments was no big secret among the aristocrats of the Empire. As a grand mage from the Imperial City, Nostradamus had encountered past Divine Armaments. The silver-haired girl’s physical form did not surprise him.

“Not bad,” answered Joshua impassively. “She is my Divine Armament, Ying.”

After answering both of them, Joshua sat by Ying’s side and stroked her hair while saying, “I will cut to the chase. After destroying the dimensional gate, Ying’s condition deteriorated. She has been asleep for a month now. Although her condition remains stable at the moment, I am still worried about her. Is this some bad after-effect?”

Joshua then turned to the female druid. “Before this, Clyre mentioned that there are remnants of Chaos energy in my home. Come to think of it, it might be connected to Ying’s current condition.”

“The reason might not be Chaos itself.”

Nostradamus looked at the young lady while stroking his beard, thinking of a way to explain this situation.

“Joshua… If I’m not mistaken, you probably inherited your current title during the Month of Frost and Snow. After that, you gain the title of Chaos Guardian during the Month of Drifting Snow. During that time, you were only a lower Gold-tier warrior. Meanwhile, your Divine Armament was only Intermediate or Upper Silver only. It is still reasonable that you as a Gold tier could use continuous high-level attacks and special traits of a Gold-tier warrior. Yet, your Divine Armament had successfully reached the leveled up during this time frame!” The white-haired mage exclaimed in surprise.

“The Radcliffe family have been the gatekeepers of the dimensional rift for four hundred years. There were many generations of heirs to this family, yet not all succeeded in leveling their Divine Armaments to Level 2. As for you, you only took three months. That is…”

Shaking his head, the old mage observed for a moment and continued, “If you are saying that your Divine Armament went into slumber during her advancement, then Chaos energy might not be the reason. On the other hand, she might be still digesting the energy which had bestowed upon her.”

Meanwhile, Clyre had a baffled expression. This beautiful elf whose age was unknown was biting her nails, thinking about the mystery which laid before her.

Joshua ignored the fact that she was acting like a child. He thought of the ideal druids during his previous life and asked Clyre, “Do the druids of nature reject the idea of homunculi?”

Clyre shook her head at Joshua’s question and replied, “All living being would go through reproduction and give birth to the next generation. Human’s creation of homunculi could be considered normal as it was a sign of revolution within Order. I was merely curious about the amount of ‘steel’ essence she has within her.”

After saying that, the elven druid subconsciously raised her hand. “Homunculus are not supposed to be like this.”

“What was she like previously? When the energy of ‘steel’ did not flow within?”

Joshua asked while frowning, “Is it because of this energy, Ying was not able to level up and wake up?”

Based on the druid’s words, the stagnant ‘steel’ energy was infected by Chaos. It had a very high possibility that it was the main problem.

“I don’t know.”

Clyre shook her head and said, “You should ask him.” She then pointed at the old mage.

The both of them shifted their attention on the mage who was deep in thought.

Nostradamus had a baffled expression. As the head mage of the Empire, the sixth generation Divine Armament was designed by him. That was Fang, who was Joshua’s father’s butler. Despite having such a vast knowledge on Divine Armaments, he was not able to pinpoint the true reason of Ying’s slumber.

With a flick of his hand, Nostradamus unleashed a high-level probing technique. His expression changed after the inspection. “The energy core is still evolving? A normal ascension would only take four to five days. Her current process is already been ten times more than average. Where does she get such powerful energy?

If she was to be able to convert all this energy for herself, would she be a lot stronger?

The old mage thought for a moment and spoke to Joshua, “There might be an explanation for her case. However, it is only a possibility as this theory is not verified.”

The old man could not keep himself calm. “Your Divine Armament might be sleeping because the abundance of energy stored within her has already exceeded the normal threshold. This has caused her to be unable to absorb all the energy within the normal timeframe. If you were to decrease the amount energy within her right now, you might be able to awaken her quickly.”

“But where does this energy came from?”

Joshua could not fully understand the situation, “It shouldn’t even be this long even if I was a Gold-tier back then.”

“You are the one that should be asking yourself where that energy comes from.” Nostradamus sighed. He looked into the warrior’s eyes and said, “When you destroyed the dimensional gate, how many Chaos beings did you slay? A few thousand? Ten thousand? You killed two Gold-tier daemons, didn’t you? Even a normal person could not kill so many within their entire life as compared to what you have done within two minutes.”

He then warned Joshua, “Do not take the process where ‘Steel’ devours each other lightly. If the power accumulates up to a certain extent, unimaginable things could happen. The power from the death of so many daemons was something not to be trifled with. I could not explain the reason why they would be contaminated by Chaos at the moment. Most likely it was caused by the dimensional gate I guess.”

Joshua pondered on this case and asked, “Then how do I resolve this?”

“… It would be easy.” The old mage smiled in a strange way and gave an outrageous suggestion. “Joshua, if you are able to awaken another Divine Armament and allow it to share the burden of this energy, then this young lady here could wake up faster.”

“Awaken another Divine Armament… Hmm…”

After thinking for a moment there, Joshua remained silent.

“An ordinary person could never able to sustain the burden of two Divine Armaments, but you are not an ordinary person.” The old man laughed. “You are likely the most talented and gifted warrior within the history of the Empire. With your strength, you just might be able to wield both Divine Armaments at the same time.”

“Let me think it through,” replied the warrior.

A few days later.

The grand mage Nostradamus had a lot of responsibilities he needed to attend to. Most of the transportation portals had malfunctioned in the northern lands. Thus, he had to take an early leave back to the capital. Clyre Windsong, the elven druid stayed behind to prepare herself for the purification process on the lands Moldavia and Moldova. She was examining on the Chaos energy lingering around the Dark Forest every day.

Within the city center, on a mansion located at the west. There stood a person and a girl in the bedroom at on the second floor.

“She’s still asleep…” he sighed.

The servant had just changed the blanket and mattress for Ying. Joshua was seated beside his Divine Armament. He touched the face of this young lady and muttered, “If you don’t wake up soon enough, I’ll just grab another Divine Armament.”

Joshua then smiled and said, “Don’t be jealous then and start blaming me for not using you on the battlefield.”

A soft sound then resonated from Ying’s body, as if she was trying to reply Joshua.