Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-13

After taking a stroll inside the church, other than noticing a renewed Statue of the Seven Gods, Joshua didn't notice any significant information related to the rune. This place was only an ordinary church, with some classic wooden chairs, colored glasses, detailed wall paintings, and statues found within this place. Although the items looked aged, it was kept very clean. Dust was hardly spotted on these items. "The prayer hall looks the same as always, quite old but very clean. Did someone actually spend their time cleaning this place?"

There were seven statues located in front of the hall, indicating that the church did not specifically focus on one god, but it is a place for believers to pray for all seven gods of humanity. To the current people in the city, believing in seven gods was a better choice as compared to believing in one.

"I've been to this place..."

Joshua thought for a moment there. Using his right hand, he patted the wooden chair beside him and said, "When I was young, there was a period of time where father would always bring me here to pray on Sundays."

In the past, Joshua simply thought that his father was a person who believed in the gods. However, from the information gathered based on the current scenario, there would be some other reason or secret behind his father's action. He furrowed his eyebrows and tried to think about the past seriously, "That time, father would often go into a room within the church alone. During that time, I will be left to play with the knights. There's definitely some secret behind his action."

Once he remembered these events, Joshua proceeded to the room he vaguely remembered where his father went. After passing the altar and the confession room, he reached a room without windows. The room was a bit dark at the point of time. Once Joshua reached the door of the room which was located slightly on the left, he felt another surge of heat on the back of his hand.

"I guess this would be the place."

After trying to open up the door, he noticed that the door was not locked. After entering the room, he found out that the room was not as dark as expected.

This room looks like a private study room. The floor was made out of black granite. The ceiling had some stones that illuminated golden radiance to light up the room. Those stones were probably fluorite fragments. All four walls within the room were covered with large bookcases. In the middle of the room, there was a table made from Feiyun Wood. Looking at all these designs and decoration, Joshua could only lament, "I can still accept the usage of fluorite fragments, however Feiyun Wood and Ruyue Naga are both high-grade wood. They could be used to make weapons, but then they used it for furniture…"

It was not the time to lament too much on all the wastage here. Joshua took a piece of fluorite fragment to look around the vicinity. After searching for a while, he found some clues to lead him to his goal.

"There is a crack in the floor."

A legendary warrior's eyesight was very sharp. Although Joshua's current capabilities were not on par as his past, his observation skill was still very strong. In addition to that, players for the game were all experts in terms of finding clues to clear quests. With his past experience, Joshua easily located the obvious flaw on the floor. "Although it was covered up pretty nicely, the signs of wear and tear caused by opening the door very often could not be erased."

Extending his arm, Joshua tried to examine every inch within the area to see if there is any mechanics or traps laid. However, when his hand touched a piece of special granite on the floor, a magic pattern suddenly appeared on it. Just when Joshua thought that he activated some traps and tried to fall back, he heard a low mechanical voice.

"Detecting energy… Energy frequency matches with the database. Target: Joshua van Radcliffe. The primary successor of the Radcliffe family. Highest authority access approved. Unlocking entrance."

"An origin of flame, a birth from steel, an indestructible wisdom, an eternal order."

As the ancient prayer was spoken, the black granite opened up a passage in front of Joshua. This passage led all the way down to a narrow channel. Joshua paused for a second and didn't rush into the passageway. Currently, Joshua was trying to recall the ancient prayer that he heard right from the beginning.

In Continental War's third installment late-game portion, on the new map Void Starfield, there was a public dungeon which was quite high in terms of difficulty. The full name of the dungeon was called [The Ancient Multiverse Bridge's Sacrificial Ground]. Players had a tendency to call it Multiverse Sacrificial Ground. Within the core area of this public dungeon, there was a large obelisk. Right at the entrance, there was a stone tablet. On top of it was an ancient manuscript.

The ancient prayer that was spoken previously was the same as the ancient manuscript on the stone tablet.

According to the legend, before the existence of the ancients, the whole galaxy had nothing but void. Within the void, there was only an indescribable force of chaos and silence.

However, within this void, "Fire" was born from nothingness. The light brought forth by the "Fire" illuminated the world. The existence of "Fire" differentiated existences and void, order and chaos, light and darkness. This "Fire" was the beginning of every life-form. It was a form of power that gave birth to all the existence. It was also the power that caused chaos to withdraw and the materialization of life-form. This was how the existence of the world was brought forth, and this was how the origin of the world began.

The "Fire" had disintegrated the Chaos within the world. The residue of Chaos was "Steel". With order being built and solidified as time passed, came the birth of life. Each and every existence soon gained their soul and wisdom from the "Fire". They'd also gained their flesh and power from "Steel". Humans were one of the existences born from this process.

By relying on "Fire", man was able to give names to all the nameless entities, providing laws and logic, sustaining order, and making sure that each of every living being had their value and purpose of existence. Humans had used "Fire" to bring forth hope, encouraging the will of persistence and willingness to explore this wild and unknown world. Whereas "Steel" signified the beginning of creation within the world. "Steel" was also the source of strength and power. It was born from fire, and was refined by humans. Humans utilized bones, stones, copper, and metal to manufacture tools and weapons to face disaster, war, and conflicts. Humans had used "Steel" to bring forth calmness, rationality, absolute power to settle every problem and provide judgment against every evil doings.

An origin of flame, a birth from steel, an indestructible wisdom, an eternal order.

This was the most ancient information known by the players in Continental War, which was also the only myth regarding the world's creation. Even the Seven Gods among Men and gods of other races never refuted this statement. During the old days, Joshua saw a topic about test analysis regarding the validity of this myth in the game forum. However, he had no interest on this matter, thus he didn't even bother clicking it to view in the first place.

When he heard the ancient prayer, he was momentarily surprised. After all, the mainstream religion was still the Seven Gods among Men. The belief towards The Initial Flame and Primordial Steel had long dwindled. Traces of their existence could now only be found in some ancient books.

"Based on what I remember, the mages from the Skypiercing White Tower debated about this case. Magic originated from the remnant The Initial Flame within each multivariate universe, whereas combat aura was originated from the Primordial Steel within every life form.

Joshua looked through the passage for a moment and decided to go through the passageway.

There was nothing to worry about. After all, he had to go down the passageway at the end of the day. Thus, he did not hesitate and moved on.

The passageway towards the underground was actually not very long. There was a fluorite fragment installed on the wall within a certain distance, providing sufficient light for users to see. After a while, Joshua reached the most inner part of the passageway. He found a large and empty space.

In the middle of the hall, there was a great statue. It was an arm holding onto an iron hammer, intertwined by a black snake. It contained a majestic feeling which seeped into a person's soul, making them feel that the arm would swing the hammer and hit it on the ground at any time.

Surrounding the hall were many rooms. Some of the rooms had quite a number of tools used by alchemist and magicians. There was also a crystal forging altar and an elemental hearth seen within this place. All these expensive and valuable items had the capability to cause some misconceptions for people in believing that this area was some super high-tier alchemist workshop. However, the only thing that captivated Joshua's heart was located right in front of him. He had a hunch that the vague radiance at the end of the passage was the thing that summoned him to this very place.

Joshua quickly heads towards the direction of that light. Other than the light in front of him, the passageway was actually covered in darkness. After a while, Joshua's vision suddenly brightened up.

A whole piece of fluorite was hanging on top of the room. The whole environment was filled with a metallic scent. Joshua had to take some time for him to get used to the light here. After adapting towards the light here, he could finally see what was in the room.

"This is…"

Having doubt and uncertainty, Joshua quickly looked through the room once again.

Under the cemetery church lay a hidden room. Within this hidden room, there are countless of weapon sticking onto the ground. There were blades, spears, greatswords and battle axes. Even flails and cross hammers existed there. All of them had one thing in common, that was all of the equipment were very old and had countless of rust marks all over the weapons.

Looking at the conditions of all these weapons, Joshua felt that he was looking at a weapons graveyard. This place looked exactly like a place where all the weapons were going to be buried. However, within this pile of decrepit weapons, there were two that caught his attention.

A greatsword and a battle axe.