Soul of Burning Steel

There is a connection between life and life.

Relatives, friends, rivals, enemies... The relationships between people are varied and deep, but there is no doubt that the essence of each life is independent, and countless "connections" separate these independent relationships. connected islands.

Of course, generally speaking, this kind of connection usually occurs between people of the same race, such as people and people, dragons and dragons, horses and horses... But I don’t know why, there are always some strange guys who will be with people of many different races Life, generating deep 'connections'.

Starfall 849, January 1, 5:43 p.m., Nissier Snow Mountain in the Northland, College of Winterhold.

Hei opened his eyes in a daze, woke up from the bottom of the palm print lake in front of Winterhold Academy, and exhaled a mouthful of stale air in his body.

The high-heat heat from the earth's core mixed with dragon flames stimulated the rich magic crystals at the bottom of the lake, and when it emitted a strange rainbow light, it also heated up half of the lake, ejecting surging bubbles from bottom to top.

It was the time for Winter Castle to finish class at this time. Many students who were walking at the foot of the mountain, relaxing, and even quietly holding hands with people they liked saw this scene - milky white water vapor mixed with rainbow-like light, Slowly rising into the sky, like a giant pillar supporting the heaven and the earth.

However, not many people were surprised. Because of their familiarity, some students even laughed and joked to their friends beside them while enduring the hot and humid wind: "Miss Hei got up a bit late today—it's all ten days after class." It's been a few minutes."

"Isn't it? It's really rare, haha."

As a semi-ancient dragon who stays in the Northland all year round and lives in the water pool around Cold Winter Castle, Hei naturally knows that the movement of getting up after a nap every day has been equated by the students with the bell after class. She has never cared about such small things. .

"It's so boring... Sigh, there are no monsters who commit crimes, and there are no prisoners who commit crimes. How can this world be so peaceful?"

Hei yawned, and originally wanted to get out of the lake, but Hei thought about it and realized that he had nothing to do today, so halfway through getting up, he rolled and turned into a human form, and she continued to lie on the warm bottom of the lake, Half-closed his eyes and opened his mental terminal: "Let's see what's news today."

Thinking of this, a large piece of information appeared in front of Hei's eyes.

——This is the best era.

With the glorious technologies that have been recovered one after another in recent decades, as well as the blowout of extraordinary people brought about by the great tide of demons, not only does the College of Winterhold not only need to worry about the source of students, but even needs to open more than a dozen branch schools, so as not to let everyone with extremely talented High geniuses are not cultivated, but are almost completely open, and the practice materials that can be obtained without any cost not only make the old group of strong people who are stuck in the bottleneck stronger, but also give birth to countless new inheritances and materials , speeding up the frequency of era replacement.

In the era of "rapid and peaceful development" brought about by the hard work of some powerful people, the Mycroft civilization completed the leap from the "pre-industrial age" to the "empty age" in almost two generations. This is certainly the reason for having a glorious heritage, but it also has the superiority of an extraordinary civilization... After all, for ordinary civilians who regard the ability to transmit magic as common sense, and often see strong people entering and leaving the world, and even fighting outside the world, the so-called void , is just a bigger sea, and other worlds are just other continents floating in the sea.

Because of this kind of neurotic tolerance, no matter what novel creations, weird species, or even other civilizations with all kinds of strange things, Mrs. Micro can easily accept them and turn them into common sense.

And the spiritual terminal may be the one that integrates the fastest.

"Oh! Today's 'Continent of Disputes' and 'Great Arena' are both updated!"

Suddenly, Hei, who was browsing the spiritual terminal, let out a surprise cheer, and she hurriedly pulled the webpage, so that the latest update information appeared in front of her eyes.

[Version 6.64 of the Grand Arena]

- Added a killing streak system. In 1VS1 battles, consecutive victories will result in temporary titles, experience bonuses and cool appearances. At present, the highest support is ten consecutive victories.

——Added new competitive maps "Aether Abyss", "Shattered World" and "Void Maelstrom". It is not recommended for players below the Jiyi level to choose new maps.

- Added single player mode. From now on, players will be able to challenge ten levels of AI enemies. Every time a level of AI opponent is defeated, a new title can be obtained. The title can provide experience bonuses and purchase permissions for new jewelry boxes.

——The first Multi-Galaxy Civilization Invitational Tournament is about to open. The Civilization Invitational Tournament is open for both single and multiplayer teams. You can go alone or find teammates to fight together. In the end, 32 teams will enter the Civilization Invitational Tournament. , Enjoy high bonuses and rich rewards.

Tip: The standard number of people in a multi-person group is five. Starting from the gold level, the invitational tournament will be divided into groups according to strength, which are divided into three groups: 'Golden Glory', 'Ultimate Soul' and 'Legend of Destiny', each with its own invited team and champion. You cannot choose a player whose level is one level higher than yours as a teammate.

——The first multi-galactic civilization invitational ticket "Silver Invitation" has been opened for purchase. You can purchase levels for your invitation, get a new jewelry box, and enjoy limited-time maps and other related rewards.

[Continent of Dispute Version 7.22]

——Added a late-stage natural disaster "Chaos God" to the game process. Added a new wandering crisis "Darkness Over the Sky", "World-Destroying Frenzy" and "Inner Born Demon". From now on, hidden occupations such as 'Crazy Cultist' and 'Chaos Caller' will randomly appear in civilization individuals. These individuals will accelerate the spread when the stability is low, and destroy your construction.

——Added the "Pioneering Legacy" system, which has a new event chain and exploration chain. VIP users at the Ultimate level and above can choose "Pioneer Start", currently only supports "Founding Spirit", "Glory of Radiance" and "Shadow of Lonely".

Friendly reminder, the pioneers are extremely difficult to start, and each has its own independent challenge level.

- Hive-like civilizations will now randomly appear 'mutants'. Mutants do not obey the call of the brood, but they can link to the brood. The aptitude of the mutants is random, but they must have 'advanced mental abilities'.

——Adjusted the AI's planning weight and improved the AI's intelligence.

warn! Now in the Continent of Disputes, in the "Abyss-level difficulty", all hostile civilization AIs have at least level 7 strong artificial intelligence. Please don't underestimate your opponents, use your ingenuity to the fullest, and find a way to break through hell.

"Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

There are many more updates, but just after reading the beginning of each, Hei was so moved that she was about to cry. She rolled on the bottom of the lake, venting her joy: "So many updates, it's a new game—and this Multi-Galaxy Civilization Invitational Tournament, it seems that as long as you buy a ticket, you can participate in the audition?"

"Then I'll invite Hotaru, Rin, and Miss No. 3... Oh, Miss No. 3 seems to be joining the 'Legend of Destiny Group'... Then I will also invite No. 1, Lisa and Syndicate? Exactly five people !"

Hei thought happily, but Hei didn't think about the fact that other than her, other people might be very busy—but no matter what, he was already drowsy, and he almost couldn't suppress his blood instinct, wanting to fall into It was the first time for her to be so excited after a long sleep, Hei felt her blood was burning.

"I'm a master who has won 27 consecutive victories in Jiyi-level random challenges. Even if I can't win the championship, wouldn't it be easy to get into the main match?"

With this confident idea, Hei opened the forum of the Grand Arena, ready to feel the joy of other people and the bragging of the forum brother. Compared with the boring real world, the people in the spiritual terminal forum are all Talented, nice to speak, she likes it here so much!

However, Hei didn't see what she wanted in the forum, "Buy, buy, buy, such a conscientious invitation, is it still a person if you don't buy it?" ’ or ‘Live unboxing, if it is extremely rare, roll an immortal jewelry’ and other popular content.

Instead, there was an overwhelming howl.

[Free Discussion]: No, what's going on with this AI? !

[Game system]: Why does the high-level AI attack from the beginning to the end? There is no time to breathe, this design is not reasonable at all!

[BUG recruitment]: The same level was seconded, I can clearly see the AI's moves but can't hide at all, is this a BUG?

You can also see the high praise replies under each post.

"No, why do you say no?" "No, what's the matter with you?!"

"I think it's okay. It feels like being killed by a passer-by in peacetime (a small parallel feeling)." "Hi, this update fixes the bug that allows you to defeat AI."

"I got up, I was caught off guard, what can I say." "Hello, it's not a bug, dear, it's just that you are too weak."

Almost all the content is crazily complaining about the AI ​​strength of this big arena update. On the contrary, it is such a big thing as the multi-civilization invitational tournament. Few people talk about it at all. In addition to being suspicious, Hei muttered, "What's going on here?" ? ’ At the same time, I clicked on a super long post that was manually pinned to the top.

This is a post posted by a very well-known team in the Grand Arena forum, the 'Xin Rui Lab'. This team usually analyzes the impact of each map in the arena on each professional race, its advantages and disadvantages, and proposes some interesting map combat methods and strategies to deal with specific strong tactics, so every time it appears, many people will be excited. Call God, go and leave your name.

And the appearance of the new AI this time seems to be no exception—just a glance, Hei saw that there were many IDs he was familiar with in this post, and he thought they were all the same as himself. Look, there are any strategies or other tips that can be learned.

But this time, Xinrui Lab did not give relevant and corresponding strategies as in the past, but a complaint that could clearly see the sense of collapse.

[What kind of AI is this? It's just cheating, right? After testing all the maps, all of them can adapt perfectly, and make a perfect first move. I don’t think this kind of creature exists in the multiverse at all. No, is it a creature? 】

"I didn't expect...the professional strategy team was defeated." ——The rookie captain.

"Ah, Xinrui Lab has also collapsed." ——The ID cannot be made public due to relevant laws.

"They are also working very hard, how about the captain, next time we go to them and try to work together to solve the strategy?" ——I love tentacle, replying "This ID cannot be disclosed due to relevant laws".

"I just said that it doesn't make sense that they can pass, but I can't... Sure enough, everyone can't." ——Household Devil.

There are thousands of pages densely packed with complaints about related discussions. Some people even shared videos of themselves being killed by a high-level AI, or resisting being crushed for a while. Those who can resist for more than 20 seconds are already at the multi-galactic level Among the elite players in the forum, the one with the best performance record so far is an unfamiliar ID who fought against the ninth-level AI for five minutes and lost a single trick, "carrying the stars to graze", that seems to be an extremely huge Even in the multi-dimensional magic network forum, this level of powerhouse is extremely rare, and many players come in for the video of this powerhouse.

It can be seen that the white void monster and the vague ninth-level AI fought in the void for five minutes. From the beginning, it was directly heated. The chaotic energy in the video was surging, and the avenue was wiped out. , was stunned by the endless information contained in the video, leading to a direct disconnection.

"It's okay." The ID holder commented on his performance at the end of the video: "At least it was better than my last performance."

The ten levels are Mortal, Black Iron, Silver, Gold, Ultimate Intent, Extreme Intent High, Legendary Beginner, Legendary Middle, Legendary High, and Legendary Ultimate. Although her strength is not up to the legendary level, it is not enough to be overwhelmed by watching the legendary high battle, but even she can't see the specific battle process clearly.

"Legendary high who will be defeated by AI? This is too weak, I think it was honed over time, not a real combat school."

Shocked by the abused videos shared by players, Hei didn't flinch in his heart, but was eager to try: "I heard them say it's so difficult, but I feel that's it. These people are not prepared. Those who are defeated, at worst, concentrate at the beginning and fight with the strongest strength!"

"Maybe, I'm the first dragon who can defeat AI of the same level!"

Thinking of this, Hei happily logged off the forum, and then clicked on the icon of the big arena. She smiled, then confidently chose 'stand-alone mode', and then selected 'level 6 AI' to make related settings.

map! Abyss of ether! Scene destruction! allow! Random Disasters! open!

Games start!

Three seconds later.

Hei raised her head blankly, looking around at the blisters on the bottom of the palm print lake, and there was still a phantom pain in her neck: "What's going on?"

Why am I being seconded?

"No! I just didn't concentrate enough!"

Gritting his teeth, Hei clicked on "Challenge Again": "I don't believe it—"

Five seconds later.

Feeling that his head was crushed, the black brows frowned with a bit of pain in his heart: "No, no, there must be something wrong... I should have activated the Yangyan shield from the beginning."

Click again!

Ten seconds later: "No, why can't I see him?! How did I get killed?!"

Click again!

One second: "No, no, you can't forcefully find the target, the loophole is too big!"

Click again!

Fourteen seconds: "Wow!!!! Why can he kill me like a chicken! It's all extreme intentions, I don't accept it!!!!"

Click again!

...

"Who am I? Where am I? Why do I torture myself?"

"How many times have I died?"

Four hours later, the bewildered black dragon spread its wings and lay on the bottom of the lake in the shape of a rice character. The tail at the bottom of the rice character swayed slightly, stirring the water at the bottom of the lake: "Forget it, the number of things has gone up to now, and I can't count them."

During the long battle, Black involuntarily canceled the human transformation and returned to the prototype battle - but even so, he couldn't last more than a minute and a half.

"But wait a minute, why do I feel a little familiar with this AI's combat method..."

After waking up from the hot-headed challenge, Hei pondered for a while, and then she came to her senses—she seemed to be no stranger to this AI's fighting methods, but she really felt a sense of familiarity in her bones!

Quickly find out the video of your previous battle, use the perspective of a bystander, slow down, observe in detail frame by frame, and then...

"Wait, this, isn't this the master's fighting method when he was in Jiyi?! Back then when we fought the Jiyi black dragon Mandagal in the Blood Moon Abyss!"

"It's changed a little bit... But this AI is basically treating me like a Mandagar! I said how he can kill dragons so smoothly, so it's based on the master?!"

"No, no, wait a minute, so the newly added AI is all based on the master as a template?! No wonder, it's a game!"

At this moment, when Hei looked back at those complaining posts on the forum, he suddenly felt no contempt, but full of admiration: "Oh my God, that 'carrying the stars to graze' can actually be found in the legendary Master Gao. After holding on for five minutes, it was only a narrow move, and there was no serious injury... Really amazing!"

Her best record is only close to two minutes. The black dragon girl who has not experienced too many super-intensive battles is indeed very unsuited to this kind of fighting method, and she will always expose countless flaws. Click to kill.

"However, so to speak, that tenth-level AI... Could it be..."

It is not shameful to be defeated by the master's illusioned AI. Hei was completely aroused, ready to strengthen his strength in related battles, and began to challenge and exercise in a planned way—but she suddenly thought that even that

"Carrying the stars to graze", the challenge is only the "ninth-level AI", and the "tenth-level AI"...

"Damn it!"

On the far side of the galaxy, in the abyss of the galaxy in a certain world, an irritated will fluctuated in the void, and the voice of the emperor suppressed his anger and doubts echoed: "This tenth-level AI is basically the end of Radcliffe himself? !"

"Or, in such a short period of time, he has improved one step further, and just the simulated AI can defeat us?"

Doubts arose and wailing continued. This update of the Grand Arena, while bringing countless joys, also let all those who cut off contact with that person know that the other person is still in good condition, and there is still room to update, and even He has the strength to make a shot from a distance, proving his strength to everyone.

And the phrases of "absurdly strong AI" and "I respect you as a strong man for 3 minutes" used to tease each other among arena players have also turned into publicity points, attracting more other civilizations, other galaxies Life joins the magic net and the big arena.

Of course, these are things that will happen later, and now Hei, after thinking that the AI ​​might be the owner who released his own model, silently quit the forum and returned to the homepage of the spiritual terminal.

"Master...is he already this strong?"

The black dragon girl's expression was a bit lonely: "I try so hard, but I can't keep up with his footsteps..."

Thinking of this, she raised her head and looked at the icon of the game 'Big Arena'.

Hei is not a smart, hard-working dragon. She has patience, but she is rarely inspired. She has talent, but when fully activated, she will fall into the sleep of the ancient dragon. She wants to become stronger, and she can make unremitting efforts for this, but that Just walking on the edge of the rickety cliff, if you are not careful, you will be dragged down by the too powerful blood force, and a dream will last for thousands of years.

Is the 'game' really what she likes to play? Fighting non-stop, virtual battle, even if it is to pass the time, it is too boring, right? After all, not everyone is that warrior, even if they are forever bathed in blood and fighting, they can still laugh indifferently.

But Hei can still play, and keep 'playing'. In this world where there are not many people who can accompany her to fight and become stronger, this is the only place where she can gain actual combat experience.

"Because, this is what the master expects of me."

It can be seen that the icon of the big arena is the head of a slightly strange black dragon—the black dragon is roaring, and a ring of arena walls burning with flames surround the dragon head, emitting golden light like the sun. shine.

"Hei, I will use your image as the icon of the 'Big Arena'."

Faintly, I can hear the master's smiling voice from the past: "How about it, I think it's quite handsome."

"Okay, okay! Master treats me the best!"

I could vaguely hear my own excited cheers.

"That's fine, it's up to you, Hei, you will be the guardian totem, haha."

That was rare, the sound of the master laughing happily because of the battle. And that was also the first time I swore to make up my mind that I must live up to my master's 'expectation', and I must do my best to catch up with the other party.

"jingle bell jingle bell?"

Suddenly, there was a crisp sound of wind chimes, accompanied by a flash of light, a small ball of light suddenly appeared in the lake water, and stuck between a pair of black dragon horns.

"Hey, Xiaoguang, why are you here?"

Hei asked in surprise—she transformed into a human form, so that the light ball that was looking for a position could be smoothly stuck between the black dragon girl's horns, and she jingled in satisfaction.

Since the Shelter World took shape, Xiaoguang seldom accompanied her. After all, things were very busy there, and sometimes Xiaoguang was needed as a rare, self-aware world will split to assist the Seven Gods in building something. An extremely secretive control center. All in all, it is really rare to see it today.

"Ding bell, jingle bell ding ding."

The light ball yelled cheerfully, while Hei smiled and shook his head and said, "Oh, the master didn't come back so soon. Listen to him, he will be away for a long time this time... That's just his AI, not him."

"jingle?"

"Well, don't be depressed, he will come back eventually. And before we come back, we have to work hard to give him a big surprise, right?"

"Jingle jingle!"

... a very warm feeling.

...a very regrettable feeling.

As the one who has accompanied Joshua for the longest time, Hei, who has been with Joshua since he was in the form of a war horse without wisdom until now, is hard to explain what he feels in his heart.

"Do I really understand Master?"

She always feels that she doesn't understand anything, but she also feels that she understands the other person very well. The man who walked day and night for seven days and nights just to rush back to his hometown to take revenge has now become a great man whom Duo Xinghe respects. Existence, all of this may sound absurd, but only those who really walked with them know that all of this is as it should be.

Hei could still recall, not long ago, in the Moldavian lord's mansion, several legendary powerhouses, even several gods, said some words when they discussed some extremely confidential matters with Miss No. 3.

"He... is just like the sages back then."

"No, it's a bit different from the sages. Back then, people thanked and respected the sages, but no one was afraid of him, it was just 'love' from the heart."

"As for Joshua, it's not the 'mutual love' of sages, but 'respect'."

It can be heard that the voice of the old pope and the voice of the guardian god are not hidden, but the voice of the evaluation is very clear: "I walked with the old sages to witness that he opened the way. In the attitude of people towards him, in the influence of that invisible information, guess what path they are going to take."

Saying so, the guardian god took a puff of the bong, but there was no smoke in it, and this behavior was meaningless to the god, but it was the only memory he had that was related to his interest. He said calmly: "That guy, what he wants is to restore all the 'damaged things to their original state'. The Holy Light was born from this, so the more severely damaged, the more willing to get close to him, and the abyss is one of them. It is said that 'Shadow' is born from this."

"But Joshua, I don't know what he really wants...'eternal battle'? No, although he is simply the embodiment of battle and the manifestation of destruction, if we say that what he pursues is only If it is this, then I am afraid that we have been destroyed by the evil god who fights everything, because he is the current Joshua, so the 'eternal battle' is not actually what he pursues."

"Fighting is his interest, but that's not his way. No one has ever said that a person can only do what he likes. He must have a more fundamental purpose hidden under the fighting."

"And that is the 'Tao' he chose."

Black agrees with the judgment of the Guardian God.

Black also disagreed with the judgment of the Guardian God.

Because, the master is neither an 'incarnation of battle', nor does he hide any 'fundamental purpose'. A master is a master, Joshua van Radcliffe, a warrior.

"Xiao Guang...Master, he actually neither expects others, nor does he want others to expect him."

Lying on the bottom of the lake with Xiaoguang, looking up at the lake surface that has become very dark with the sun setting, Hei himself is shining, illuminating everything around him, and she whispers to herself: "He regained the territory at the beginning. At that time, he neither believed in the strength of the territorial knights nor the support of the imperial military, and just advanced alone in the heavy snow."

"Everyone says that he has a weapon, but he doesn't use it. He has a mount, but he doesn't ride it... It can't be said that he uses it. He only uses it when necessary, when he can only use weapons."

"What he insists on is that it is for one person, and it does not affect anyone else's battle, even if it is a weapon or a mount. He doesn't want the weapon to break because of himself, and the mount to die because of himself."

One-to-one, one-to-many, one-to-group, even one-to-infinite, it doesn't matter.

Was he looking forward to fighting? It's more like a challenge. But in the final analysis, whether it is a challenge or a battle, it seems to be confirming something.

"The master knows his 'abnormality', knows that other people don't necessarily like to fight, don't necessarily like to be bathed in blood and die. He knows that other people don't necessarily like to run around in the void all day long, like to travel through other worlds to save sentient beings, and like to fall into almost Mortal danger."

"So, he will not take anyone with him, but will go on the road alone, and move forward alone - he does not have expectations for anyone, and he does not want others to change their minds because of their own expectations, and embark on a journey that should not have happened. their way."

This kind of 'gentleness' that is not even willing to impose 'injury' on others, this 'arrogance' that is not even willing to bear 'responsibility' on others, this complex mixture, my master, how can I use it? How can such a flimsy label as 'Avatar of Battle' describe it?

Raising his hand, Hei touched Xiaoguang, and when he heard the other party's sound of "ding ding ding ding", he showed a faint smile.

"So, I want to catch up with him. After all, I am an ancient dragon. If there is no accident, it is not surprising to live forever. In this way, if the 'road' has an end, I might be able to live in the eternal time." At the end, I have caught up with the master."

"But if it is the master, even if this multiverse really has an end, it will be forcibly smashed and forcibly walked out of a path."

Starfall 849, January 1, 11:32 p.m., Nissier Snow Mountain in the North, Winterhold College, the bottom of Palmprint Lake.

Hei and Xiaoguang looked up at the twin moons above the sky through the thick lake water.

"This year is the first year that the master left the world of Mycroft and went to the maelstrom of creation."

This year is Joshua van Radcliffe's first year in the maelstrom of creation.

When it leaves, it is approaching.

Black is the earliest supporting role, so one of them is her

These are big chapters lately.

Ask for a monthly ticket at the end of the month.