Soul of Burning Steel

High in the sky in the northeast of the Northern Empire, the dark clouds of the night were torn apart by a black dragon shadow, and a long trail was pulled out from among the thick clouds.

It can be seen that there is a golden spar in the center of the dragon shadow's chest, releasing the brilliance of the sun. It shoots out a straight line of light, sweeping across the land along the way like a searchlight, and just above the head of this giant dragon, Standing a looming figure in the darkness.

"The more you want to exert your full strength, the more you understand that human gestures have their limits."

In mid-air, standing between the black horns, Joshua murmured to himself in such a low voice: "From the last few battles, I deeply understand that it is completely impossible to play with a purely human posture and soul. my power."

"unless……"

"—unless it's not human!"

Behind Joshua, No. 3, who was sitting on a raised scale on the black dragon's neck, suddenly whispered, she had been silent all this time, holding her wings in her hand in a daze, but because she heard the warrior talking to herself, He couldn't help but interjected a sentence.

And Joshua immediately turned his head, stared at No. 3, and said a little strangely: "Who taught you this?"

The artificial intelligence girl didn't try to be perfunctory, but thought about it seriously, and then replied: "Many liches, druids, and all kinds of extraordinary professionals who can transform themselves like to say that... But Joshua, These are the words of an evil villain.”

You are quite scary in the first place, if you keep saying that you are not a good person, you will really be regarded as a big villain! The girl originally wanted to say this sentence, but she didn't say it in the end.

"But on this point alone, they are not wrong."

He noticed that there was something in the 3rd sentence, but Joshua didn't pay attention to it, and after thinking about it carefully, he found that there are really many people who are not human in the extraordinary world. After learning about this, Joshua didn't go into it. He shrugged, turned his head, and continued to stand on top of the black dragon, looking at the clouds and the horizon stretching forward.

He whispered: "But No. 3, the most important thing is not being wrong."

"It's about going beyond."

"Beyond what?"

Number 3 began to be interested in what the warrior said to himself. She got up, moved to a position closer to Joshua, and asked, "Beyond human beings? But didn't you already have the power to surpass human beings?" ...No, even a giant dragon has been surpassed by you, is there any creature in the Mycroft world that can surpass you in terms of pure strength."

"Yes. But not just transcendence in that sense."

Nodding his head, Joshua shook his head again, and said calmly: "Based on objective evaluation, the human body is actually very perfect - a well-developed brain, the nature of gathering and cooperating, strong endurance, and the ability to run fast for a long time. Ability, can eat the digestive system of most plants and animals, can maintain life for a long time only by relying on water, will use coma and amnesia to protect itself when encountering too strong mental shock, and is born with the most perfect tool in nature 'hand'."

"It can be said that in an era without supernatural powers, it is inevitable that human beings can stand out from all things with their bodies alone. This kind of body and brain, as well as spirit and soul, are already perfect and do not need to be changed. Appearance is nothing more than becoming stronger on this basis, until the gold level, the basic body of human beings is perfect."

When Joshua said this, not only No. 3 was listening, but even Hei, who was flying, diverted his attention and listened carefully. Joshua has always been reticent on weekdays. Even when communicating with friends, he would only say a few words occasionally. The soldier always thinks alone. If he didn't share his thoughts with them this time, he would rarely see him. So much to say in this regard.

"But that's the bottleneck—a human's body and size will be insufficient for a battle beyond the gold level. Why is my battle form a 100-meter-tall steel giant? Because with my strength, if I'm still the size of an ordinary person, It can't effectively hit other targets at all, it just 'passes' through it. Four arms are better understood, compared with two hands, four hands are twice as effective in striking, and they can also take care of front, back, left, and right. If possible, I might add a few more in the future.”

Speaking of this, Joshua sighed: "Carbohydrate-driven muscles, no matter how much energy is added, can't move mountains, even if they have the power to evaporate lakes and rivers, their own body will first I can't bear it. In order to break through, the ancestors created the ultimate power to break this bottleneck. This is what I call 'beyond human beings'."

"Not just the physical, but technical and spiritual limits as well."

"No matter how complicated the skills are, in the final analysis, it is the method of body and energy operation. As long as you can perfectly control all the organs and energy in your body, and have the reaction ability to match your own strength, then no matter what skills you have, you can easily grasp them, even foreigners. Inhuman skills can also be seen through with one's own vision, through energy simulation. Those who break through this level are the ultimate skills."

"Excessively strong spiritual power due to meditation and exercise even suppresses the soul in turn. Too sharp senses make people unconsciously become crazy and extreme. In order to regulate their own hearts and balance this spiritual power, the ancestors I have thought of many methods, whether it is lichization, soul transformation, or persistent meditation. However, these methods cannot be standardized because each person is different, and those who have overcome this bottleneck can only be called the ultimate soul. "

"The three ultimate intentions, in the final analysis, are created by human beings to break through the limit of 'humanity'. Legendary powerhouses are nothing more than going to the extreme on this road, completely sublimated from pure human blood. I have become a super life being, just like me. Liches, druids' transformations, and various secret skills of other extraordinary professions are all another way to break through their own limits. I came here, Exploring the mist of God's Evil is precisely to find the truth of the ultimate soul. Thanks to Geer, now I know exactly what the ultimate soul is that I need."

Speaking of this, Joshua paused slightly, he seemed to have fallen into a short thought, but after a while he came to his senses, the warrior said: "The lich has transformed its body and soul through secret techniques, and possesses the ability to understand magic and magic. The absolute advantage of spiritual power. Druids imitate all kinds of powerful beasts in nature, and also find other ways to break through the limits of human beings. But no matter what the method is, they all have one thing in common... Number 3, black, do you know? "

"..."

After waiting for a few seconds, Joshua did not wait for an answer. He knew that these two people were still accepting the information he said, so he smiled and said, "That is wisdom."

"Summary the skills of body training from generation to generation, sort out the methods to break through the limit, summarize the skills one after another, and determine the most perfect way of energy operation... imitate wild animals, learn from nature, sublimate existing ones, To create something new is wisdom.”

"Human wisdom is the first and most powerful weapon of human beings. Its existence is to surpass the past and break through the limit. Because of it, there are countless previous attempts and thousands of current results."

On the main clock of No. 3 and Hei, Joshua raised his hand and pointed to his own brain: "Although I am not good at government affairs and I don't like tedious things, I still have confidence in the wisdom of how to become stronger. Yes. His Majesty Geer blessed us and said that he expects our descendants to surpass them... This does not refer to pure strength, but to stand on their shoulders and let wisdom go further. No. 3, you have If you have mastered the inheritance of Geer, if you can integrate the content of the engraving and create something of your own, it means that you have surpassed Geer, even if your strength is still not as good as Geer at that time. "

He smiled and said, "That is, you are an artificial intelligence that surpasses God-doesn't it sound great?"

"The same is true for civilization. As long as the latecomers stand on the shoulders of the predecessors and continue to study and make progress, civilization will continue to become stronger, constantly surpass itself, and continue to move forward.

"Ha ha……"

I don't know how to answer, No. 3 can only respond with a chuckle, but for some reason, since she got Geer's engraving, she suddenly feels a little power in her heart, which is a kind of helplessness. Reasonable emotions, but she just felt that there was an inexplicable urge to keep moving forward as Joshua said.

"Joshua..."

Suppressing this emotion in her heart, No. 3 looked at the soldier who was once again in deep thought, and she couldn't help but said, "Have you already broken through the ultimate soul?"

"not yet."

Hearing the artificial intelligence girl's question, Joshua shook his head and answered, but then he said in a relaxed tone: "But soon, I already understand what makes me uneasy."

He stared at the ground passing by below him, the lights that appeared and disappeared in the dark night, Joshua looked at the plains, mountains and cities in the northeast of the Northern Empire, his heart had already calmed down, even with the power of divinity It was still pulsating in his body, but the warrior was able to look at this incomparably powerful and extremely dangerous thing indifferently.

—I have understood.

The so-called strength does not need to be endured or suppressed at all.

There is no need to care about whether your own power will damage other things, whether it will affect friends and relatives, and there is no need to restrain your desires at all.

"Divinity is a part of me, and the desire it arouses is also my desire, so."

Joshua said softly: "People who are influenced by their own desires, who will let their power out of control, everything they say is the sophistry of the weak, and it is a manifestation of incompetence. The reason why I will There is only one reason for being influenced by divinity and thinking about how to fight it, and that is that the previous me was too weak, and I couldn’t even bear it with my own strength.”

"Right now, I am willing to accept the influence of divinity on me - I accept this power as a part of myself."

"And still act according to my ideas."

After seeing the figures of gods such as Xingzheng and Geer, Joshua had a deeper understanding of divinity.

Although they are 'gods' who stand out from humans and winged humans, they have maintained their original hearts and have not been swallowed by divinity. Geer did not turn into a storm and the sky, and Xingzheng was not a lunatic who blindly relied on power to practice "justice". They all used their own methods to achieve their ideals and wishes while satisfying their divinity.

All this is because the 'divine nature' is only a part of them, and their belief and will are sufficient to contain and control this power.

Thinking of Geer, Joshua turned his head and looked at the engraving on No. 3's arms. He asked curiously: "I wanted to ask just now, but I was in a hurry to leave, so I didn't open my mouth... No. 3, don't you take this thing?" Put it away?"

"What? Ah, is this... engraved?"

No. 3 blinked, and looked at the complicated rune imprints in her arms, which looked like a pair of 'spread wings'. She paused, and then said with some hesitation: "Actually, Joshua, don't be angry...Actually, I I think what His Majesty Geer said before is right, I am not a Yiren."

Having said that, No. 3 closed his eyes, as if he was afraid of Joshua's reprimand: "Indeed, I'm just an ordinary artificial intelligence, No. 3 Mobile Fortress control center, there are more than a dozen existences like me, It's just that I survived...and this is the inheritance left by His Majesty to Yiren, even if I take it, I don't have a real body to exercise."

"You are no ordinary artificial intelligence."

But after hearing this, Joshua didn't raise his voice. He just shook his head, and then said with a smile in No. 3's surprised eyes: "You are a unique artificial intelligence, my good assistant, No. 3."

"Dozens of the same existence? Your soul is unique, just like the souls of all living beings in this world are unique. You don't need to care about your race or identity. You are just yourself, just like I am only Joshua."

Speaking of this, Joshua shook his head with a bit of resentment: "Obviously, you didn't listen to me at all just now. You can't exercise without a body? You are underestimating the inheritance of the gods. Didn't I say it before? The essence of extraordinary lies in the transcendence of soul, body and skills. Even if you don’t have a body, you can still start with the ultimate intention of soul and the ultimate intention of technique. If your soul has reached my level, you can condense matter out of thin air to shape your body It's a small thing, too. I'll help you in that."

With Joshua's personality, it is already the limit to say this level of comfort and encouragement. No. 3, who knows how the warrior used to train Hei and the members of the Knights, couldn't help but uttered his words after hearing such gentle words from the warrior. A chuckle. But after laughing, the girl still sighed softly deep in her heart.

"Just... an assistant?"

"Woo———"

Suddenly, accompanied by Hei's long moan, Joshua and No. 3 looked at the earth together. The golden and red lights on the plain were brightly lit, and the Mai Zhe Unfrozen River shone brightly under the light, like a golden silk.

The lights of Moldavia can already be seen.

They go home.

I was drunk yesterday... I'm sorry... There is another chapter tonight