It is often said that weapons are a warrior's best companion, and this sentence is true, after all, for a warrior, a good weapon that can bring out his best strength is really not weaker than a good partner with a common heart.

Therefore, according to this, from ancient times to the present, there has always been a group of people who have devoted themselves to creating weapons and tools with their own will, directly skipping the stage of 'running-in' and reaching the highest level of spiritual connection.

However, this is not to say that a weapon that is really in touch with people can be considered the 'best partner' and allow the wielder to bring out the best in it - because when the weapon also has the will, it is no longer just the warrior who chooses the weapon, but also the owner of the weapon.

Only a handful of people can convince self-aware weapons to be used willingly.

- Of course, this does not mean that the very few people have to use weapons.

Starfall 850, January 1, 0:17 a.m., Northland Moldavia, crypt of the cemetery church.

The church that was often cleaned did not have the slightest dust, and the fluorite lamp, which was out of place in the age of magic energy, shone with a light golden light, and walked through the basement full of metallic smell, Hotaru and Rin came to a portal located underground, and the silver-haired girl and the black-haired teenager did not hesitate, they stretched out their hands in unison.

Then, the portal was opened.

In an instant, the voice of the Jin Ge Iron Horse came, the blade could be heard trembling slightly, the shield could be heard, and the two siblings sensed the echo of dozens of completely different weapons, causing the heavy killing aura to spread.

For the low-level transcendents, this kind of battle may really shock them, immerse them in a strange mental state, and increase the success rate for the next contract action, but Hotaru and Rin are not low in rank first, and now they have extreme intentions, and secondly, they are not human at all, but they are different from the weapons buried in this basement, they are all 'divine machines'.

So the two of them were not affected in the slightest, and strode into the basement like this.

"Hey, why are you guys?"

Noticing that the person who came was not a human, but his own kind, a long spear stuck in the ground emitted a puzzled mental fluctuation: "Is it time for maintenance again?" Actually, there's no need, the cultivation circle that the family master updated last time is already great, and I feel stronger than ever before, I can eat people, RUA! ”

"That's true." On the side, the shield that seemed to be tapping itself just now, and the terrifying knocking sound also came from the mental fluctuations: "I even feel that my spirit is much better, my thinking is much clearer, and I am simply quick." ”

Immediately after, dozens of magic machines in the entire basement all emitted mental fluctuations almost at the same time, and the noisy communication was enough to make a psychic person noisy out of control, in this regard, Hotaru and Rin had no choice, the two looked at each other, shook their heads helplessly, and then put their palms together, and the crisp applause suppressed all the voices in an instant.

"Okay, all the seniors, this time we came here, not for your maintenance...... To be reasonable, you are so spirited, what is there to maintain. ”

It was Hotaru who said this, and then it was Rin who answered, and he opened his hand and began to release his power, connecting all the divine machines present: "All in all, there is a big announcement today, and from now on, you don't have to stay in this basement anymore." ”

As he spoke, the powerful power spread, and as the energy released by Rin overshadowed all the divine machines present, one after another strong lights flashed - and then, with the surging wave of magic power, one by one 'humans' of different shapes appeared in the basement.

There are old people who seem to be highly respected, there are also teenagers and girls like Hotaru and Rin, and there are more normal men and women, and dozens of human forms turned into divine machines are beyond the expectations of these divine machines, revealing their bodies abruptly.

“…… Wait, Rin, and Hotaru. ”

Looking at his humanoid hands with some surprise, the young man who had transformed from the spear didn't seem to be excited about it, and he frowned, "What do you mean by that?" I can feel that our contract with the Radcliffe family has been severed...... No, it's intercepted. ”

"It's also strange to say, in the past few years, there have been no new divine machines coming in - doesn't the head of the family have descendants? Or did he give up on the magic machine? ”

The indifferent woman who had changed from the original giant shield clenched her hands, she shook her head, and let her long cyan hair shake: "No, the contract on your body is still there, he shouldn't have given up the magic machine...... So, he gave up on us? ”

This kind of speculation can't be said to be unreasonable - even if there are a few human figures incarnated by the divine machine, I am afraid that the new head of the family thinks that it is too troublesome to maintain the divine machine and raise them as 'losers', so he simply suppresses their contract and lets them find their own way out, or rather, let them fend for themselves.

"Well, not really."

Hearing those strange speculations, Hotaru's cute little face wrinkled, her face was bitter, and she said helplessly: "Mainly, the order that the master left us at the beginning is like this. ”

"'When the production of the Divine Machine stabilizes and everyone slowly accepts the new life form of the Divine Machine, it is also time to return the freedom of the Divine Machines left by the ancestors of the Radcliffe family in the past generations.' That's what the master said, and we're just doing it in his absence. ”

"yes." Rin on the side nodded, he stepped forward and helped a few people who had not used their human form for more than a hundred years, had forgotten how to walk, and accidentally lay on the ground to stand up, the young man shrugged his shoulders and said: "A few days ago, the production line of the god machine was completely completed, although the output is not very high, but according to this diffusion speed, it is only a matter of time before it is popularized, and it is even possible to spread the Mycrove civilization and spread all over the galaxy." ”

"Since then, Mrs. McCro, is about to usher in the era of the national god machine - the master said that it is called the national AI assistant, and I think it is quite appropriate."

Hotaru and Rin felt that their explanations were already easy to understand, but they didn't expect that for the old antiques that had been stored in the basement for many years, many things that they had already thought were common sense did not exist in the minds of the old antiques.

"God machine production line?" The young man with the spear looked confused.

"We're popular?" The shield woman fell into thought.

"Rumor of the Microf civilization?" The longsword man scratched his head.

"Plurality of galaxies, and other civilizations?" The twins asked in unison: "No, what are you talking about?" ”

"And that's not the most important thing."

When he came back to his senses, the spear god who was in the best mental state gradually became angry on his face: "What does this generation of family heads mean? And 'the freedom of the Radcliffe family's ancestors - what is he talking about? ”

"Aren't we free?!"

"yes." The shield god machine also responded seriously: "If the weapon is not used, it should be sealed, our freedom, let us voluntarily choose to wait, even if the person who is suitable for our contract has long since passed away, we will also fulfill the agreement - we are buried in the soil, it is our freedom, in the process of waiting for death, to teach the next generation of the god machine common sense and knowledge, it is the responsibility of those of us who have not been chosen' to lose." ”

"Then again, don't there be descendants of this generation of family heads? Why hasn't a new god machine been sent in yet? ”

“…… That's really the master's idea of not taking care of you, I'll say I'm sorry first...... Indeed, to say that you should be set free is an insult to the loyalty of the Radcliffe family. ”

Listening to the continuous questioning and rhetorical questions of the past generations in the basement, Hotaru curled her long hair in distress, she rolled her eyes, and seemed to be extracting knowledge from the memory bank that could cope with today's scenes: "But seriously, seniors, the technological progress is too fast now, if you don't go out to renovate and evolve, you will really be completely eliminated by the times!" ”

When Hotaru said this, he deliberately released his own extremely intentional aura, and the powerful energy was pressed and rolled in the small basement, when even all the divine machines present were silent: "The master also takes this into account, so I want you to contact the outside world as soon as possible, lest you be obviously a meritorious veteran, but you will be eliminated by the times." ”

“…… What about the current head of the house? ”

After being silent for a while, probably reluctantly agreeing with Hotaru's words, the spear god machine looked distressed: "After all, we are all Radcliffe's god machines, and this kind of order, it is better to have to order it from the head of the family himself." ”

"The current head of the house ......"

Hotaru and Rin sighed in unison, and then said in unison, "The current head of the family is now in retreat and cultivation somewhere, even if it is us, we can't see it." ”

"Compared to these, you better come out quickly, and follow us to the production line to renovate it - now the Radcliffe family has too much property, and the head of the family is a non-caring person, and we have our own tasks...... If we weren't really busy, we wouldn't have thought of bothering you. ”

Saying this, under the urging of Hotaru and Rin, many divine machines left the basement where they had stayed for dozens or hundreds of years in confusion and incomprehension, and came to the outside world in a daze-and what appeared in front of them was not in their memory bank, quaint and cold, just like the main city of Moldavia in the fortress.

What appeared in front of these gods was a giant magical city full of high-rise buildings, brightly lit even late at night, full of energy and hustle and bustle.

Hundreds of meters high super giant statues, towering between the cities, everywhere can be seen magic energy cars, running back and forth along the avenue, pedestrians on the side of the road are not only humans, elves and dwarves, but also many other ethnic minorities similar to fish people, and even strange individuals from other worlds and civilizations, and even see a Lund civilization individual - that is, a large iron ball floating in the air, many human children riding on him, flying around in mid-air, laughing and laughing.

It's said that it's similar, if it weren't for Hotaru and Rin insisting back and forth that this is Moldavia, the gods would only feel that they have arrived in another world.

"Alas, this is a violation of the 'Moldavian Air Flight Law'...... Forget it, I'll send a warning later. ”

Unlike Hotaru, who nodded with satisfaction because of the harmony of multi-civilized individuals, Rin watched this scene and her professional habits surged, and she just wanted to issue a ticket, but the timing was not right, so she could only endure it first: "Do you see it?" Seniors, the current world is no longer the world it used to be, and the responsibilities of our gods are no longer what they used to be. ”

In fact, there is no need for him to say more, all the divine machines present are basically in a state of shock.

"What's going on?" The previous generation of Divine Machines was probably sent in a few decades ago, and the youngest Cheap Divine Machine, except for Hotaru and Rin, rubbed his eyes, seriously doubting whether he had seen a hallucination: "Isn't the Radcliffe family just ordinary Northland nobles, when will it ...... It's so strong?! ”

He even saw airships floating in the sky with large screens, and in addition to advertisements, the screens of those airships would also show the head of a black-haired and red-eyed man - everyone knew that it was the image of Joshua van Radcliffe, the contemporary head of the Radcliffe family.

…… Joshua van Radcliffe, the Marshal of the Great Coalition and the Legend of the Mighty, is one of the founders of the Magic Web and the founder of the Multi-Galactic Civilization Invitational...... In just that short period of time, he could hear countless messages about this generation of family heads.

"Got it? It's not the same time it used to be, and there's no room for grinding. ”

Astound? Shock, that's it! Hotaru was very satisfied with the shock of the gods, otherwise, it would be a real trouble to get this group of iron and stone heads (physical meaning) to upgrade obediently according to their requirements: "All in all, it's not that you should leave the Radcliffe family - there are still many vacancies in the clan industry, and we also need some trustworthy people to help take care of it, and if you want, you can continue to serve the family." ”

"Even if you don't want to be a handyman, then we have a special cultivation method now, and we can become stronger on our own - believe me, this is a new era that is far more magnificent than you imagined, and the possibilities in you are far greater than you think."

- This is indeed the case.

Through this event, the exchanges and relationships between multiple civilizations have become closer and more stable, and the rapid spread of the exchange beam system has gradually penetrated into every detail of the galaxy with the spread of many civilizations.

Although the really top, as the foundation of civilization of the strong did not participate, but the vast invitational tournament, which affected hundreds of millions of civilizations, did make many civilizations realize the strength and heritage of each other, that battle from low to high, just like the same different shades of explanation, both participants and viewers can benefit from it, and the outstanding performers and the civilization behind it can get amazing opportunities and resources, one step to the sky.

For example, the champion of the single gold group of the invitational tournament comes from a civilized individual who is not very famous, that is a psychic entity civilization born with high spiritual abilities, their individual does not have a physical body, it is composed of pure psychic energy and some magical elements, and the gold level is only the power that they naturally have as adults, and the spiritual power far beyond the ordinary race, and the advantage of not having the entity to avoid a large number of blows, is actually very advantageous in the gold level, which has not yet sharpened all aspects to the limit.

And after this self-proclaimed 'Amund' civilization won the championship of the single gold group, there are countless civilizations that extend olive branches to it, willing to pay resources to assist in growth - naturally, there are conditions, but there are few unconditional contributions in this world, and the Amund civilization also readily agreed to the request of the Microf civilization, and the two sides began to cooperate in all aspects of the spiritual field.

The champion of the solo group, but an acquaintance, is none other than Joshua's disciple, Lisa, a dragon girl from the world of Chronos. Seriously, after Lisa advanced to the Extreme Consciousness level, developed the ancient dragon bloodline, and practiced the inheritance of the strongest in the world, the power she was able to burst out could surprise all opponents who misestimated her abilities because of her size - when the Dragon Maiden's blow to the legendary 'Stone Breaker Ascension Dragon Overlord' blasted a mountain and her opponent, a 'Divine Earth Elemental', into the sky, basically all the audience present doubted their eyes.

The champion of the solo legend group is from the 'Galaxy Maintenance Group', which is rumored to be a natural disaster civilization. This strange civilization, which claims to calm war with war and respond to destruction with destruction, challenged Joshua in the last sermon, but was defeated, and because Joshua's peace declaration was very to their taste, it gradually revealed its mysterious true colors to the outside world - a purely mechanical civilization.

As a "peacekeeping group" and created a mechanical creation, judging that its parent civilization itself is the largest peacekeeping object, so it did not hesitate to maintain it, but over a long period of time, the mechanical aggregates that were originally only controlled by the core directives began to gradually give birth to 'free individuals' who can think independently, although these free individuals are still subject to the core directives and want to bring peace to the world, but they are not unable to think independently. The one who won the solo championship this time is the most powerful free individual of the Galaxy Maintenance Group, whose body is an iron-gray void continent, carrying seventy-eight world-destroying annihilation weapons, as well as a variety of defensive plug-ins that can deal with various attacks, which is basically a combat method that equips the entire civilization arsenal on oneself, and in a sense, it can also be said to be 'all-in'.

However, the champion of the solo group did not make much sense, Joshua did not play, many powerful civilized individuals were not ready to shoot, and when they shot, it seemed that they were a bit of a bully...... After all, Legendary Extreme and Legendary High are both Legends, and if they really fight, the gap between them may be even bigger than the gap between mortals and Legendary High.

The single-person group competition mostly reflects the individual potential of a civilization and inherits the heritage, while the multi-person group competition is more chaotic and biased towards various cooperations.

The champion of the team gold group is from the McCrove Civilization and the Elite Exploration Team. Its members are Priest, Constantine, Clark, Syd and Wayne, among them, Priest can already advance to the extreme, but for the sake of this competition, he postponed his advancement time a little. In fact, the point of the team competition is not that it is strong on the one hand, but that it can deal with all kinds of enemies, such as the previous Amond civilization was able to win the championship of the solo competition, because he was lucky enough not to meet individuals who were born with mental abilities, or in other words, individuals with that ability were eliminated by others.

But the team competition is different, stability is above all else, the advantage can be restrained by the opponent, the disadvantage can be used by the opponent, and you must be thorough to ensure that you can use hard power to suppress the opponent - and the elite team can be said to have done it perfectly, they successfully defeated all opponents, and won the championship with an overwhelming stability that was not shocking, but like a mountain peak.

"After all, in the process of exploring other worlds, we have endured many challenges, such as evil gods, relics of distorted space-time realms, old nests of different civilizations, and primitive worlds full of thunder elements...... We've often fought against wild Extreme, Overlord-class monsters, and have survived several legendary duels, which has given us a solid combat experience and tempered our will – man will conquer the sky, and we firmly believe so. ”

In an interview with the host of the invitational tournament, the official reporter Hotaru, the captain Priest had deep eyes, and his tone was vicissitudes, and he seemed to have countless emotions about to come out: "Every time you go to another world to explore, you must ensure that you don't make any mistakes, otherwise you are likely to suffer a big loss in some way because of the crow's mouth, and it is not strange to die...... What is a crow's beak, you ask? It's nothing, it's just a whetstone to sharpen our way forward. ”

On the side, the knight Clark, who had been silent for the whole game, wanted to protest, but was suppressed to no avail, while everyone else nodded in agreement.

The champion of the group Polar Desire is a multi-civilization mixed team of Lesser Light from the Blood Moon Abyss, Elma from the Court of Amos, the Firedemon Syndicate from the Crucible Abyss, the First Trumpet from the world of Karlis, and Alva from the Mycrov civilization.

From the beginning, few people were optimistic that this team of members from various civilizations and didn't know how to cooperate with the team could win the championship, but the subsequent performance of the game surprised everyone - the glowing sphere that seemed to be just a pet could actually expand into a giant ball of light like a small star in an instant, and the Amos who looked like a transparent humanoid could summon a large and amazing Void Battleship at any time, and the fire demon that looked like a dragonman could actually transform into a giant slime full of infinite thunder, It seems to be just an ordinary iron ball, very much like the first number of the Lund people, and it can actually incarnate into a metal titan humanoid hundreds of meters high, and it looks like it is just a human Alva...... It's really just human.

Sometimes, when you think he will transform to surprise you, he doesn't, which is also a kind of surprise.

All in all, they won the championship after a whole surprise event.

This is a very peculiar combination, when the official reporter Rin was interviewed, Xiaoguang, as the captain, showed great emotion: "Jingle bell, jingle bell, ding bell." Ding, jingle! ”

"I see." As a reporter, Rin suddenly realized: "You mean, this is not your complete state, if there is no accident, you and another contestant who did not participate in the competition can cooperate better, and she will also transform, right?" ”

"Jingle bell, bell jingle, bell bell!"

"Well, that's true, quite a few of you guys went to the singles...... It's really admirable to be so humble, even though it's the first place! ”

"Ding~" (a slightly proud self-effacing voice)

This peculiar interview process is hot on the forum.

[Whether you understand it or not, I understand it anyway]

[Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell! ] 】

[No, you should also announce the names of the other members of your team - you can't get the first place in the perfect state, so what does the complete state look like?] 】

[Transform into a special combat team...... It's such a strange name, who came up with it? 】

And because of staying up late to fight in the arena and challenge the AI, Kuro, who overslept and missed the competition, shed tears of remorse when he heard this interview.

As for the team legend group, there was no live broadcast, and there was no follow-up video playback, and the specific news was only circulated among the high-level of various civilizations, it seems that because the battle time was too long, the game has not ended yet, and the content of the battle cannot be announced to the public.

However, Hotaru and Rin, as reporters, know that this team battle is essentially a mutual exploratory exchange between various civilizations to carry out armed exchanges, and each civilization will not send only one team, and there is no such thing as a champion. After all, without going all out, with death as the premise of fighting, there is not much to test at all, and many people just use the platform of the Civilization Invitational Tournament to solve the contradictions between each other's civilizations.

It's also the only way to adjudicate disputes between civilizations since the Joshua Peace Proclamation - and this kind of battle, which involves grievances and disputes, is not suitable for playing in its fun tournaments.

Anyway, none of the contestants present could beat the level 10 AI of a certain game.

At the end of the memories of the past, Hotaru also said goodbye to his younger brother at this time after bringing the old-fashioned god machines to the god machine production line in Moldavia, and upgrading the relevant parts and optimizing the energy cycle for them in turn.

"Then I'll go."

The silver-haired girl stretched out her hands, and she could see that a streamlined set of armor appeared on her body out of thin air as the silver mist spread, wrapping it firmly, and a cyan hug hung in the center of her chest, shining like flowing water.

"Thank you for your hard work, sister."

Sitting on the chair in the office, Rin sighed, turned on the light screen, and seemed to be ready to deal with official business: "The master's task is always so hard, and he doesn't tell us the reason...... But just do it. ”

"You're also working hard, Rin, the production line of the god machine, and the popularization of the god machine, you are the one to plan...... In a sense, this is simply the creation of a new race, and you, who rule everything, are the leaders of this new race. ”

Behind the armor, a girl's clear voice came, and Hotaru's tone sounded a little emotional and lonely: "You can always help your master in these important things, and I can't do anything except fight...... Haha, I can't say that, I've learned a lot of things over the years, but I've always been not as good as you are in this regard. ”

"What are these words?"

In this regard, the black-haired boy pursed his lips, he shook his head: "Only the right ones, there are no bad ones, I am busy with these ordinary, government affairs that do not have much meaning for the master himself, and handle the logistics for you, while sister, you can directly complete the instructions given by the master and directly help the master." Seriously, it's just a different division of labor, and there's nothing to feel sorry for. ”

"In the final analysis, we are part of the master, and everything we do is to solve problems for the master - now the master is in the maelstrom of creation, carrying out very important experiments and advancements, and what we have to do is to maintain the stability of everything and ensure that when the master comes out, he can see a world that can satisfy him."

"I know it all."

The power of the armor is activating, and the teleportation circle is unfolding, because of the distortion of time and space, Hotaru's voice is a little distorted, and she said softly: "As a weapon, you don't necessarily have to 'fight'. As long as you can help the owner deal with the problem, it is the best help for him. I understand, and I know, that weapons are just a tool to deal with problems, just as we can turn a magic machine from a weapon into an AI assistant, a sword can also be used as a medical tool, a construction tool, and even a kitchen utensil. ”

"It's just that I'm still a little unwilling, even if it's just once, I want to be needed by the current owner and wield...... It doesn't take much, it only needs to be done once. ”

"Goodbye, brother, I've made you listen to me whining again."

"Goodbye, sister, but it's not a complaint."

Seeing the dark blue space-time passage open and disappear, Rin sat in the chair of the office, rubbing his brow a little tiredly, he did not start working immediately, but raised his head and looked at the familiar ceiling above him.

"At least, you've accompanied your master through the early battles." He whispered to himself, "And I, I haven't followed him a few times. ”

But what does it matter? I don't regret this, and I'm always obsessed with the identity of a 'weapon'. We are always the right and left hands of the master, and the master's plans are realized through us, and the time when he is temporarily away is the time when we should work hard to complete the tasks delivered by the master and rely on us to complete. ”

No one knew him better than the man's weapons.

It was a selfish and lonely man, always alone, so selfish that he did not want to share even a little suffering with others, and even if it was sin, he chose to bear alone in a distant time and space.

However, there are only two individuals who are exceptions - although he selfishly deprives them of the right to fight with him, the man has transferred some of his 'responsibility' to them.

The responsibility of being a 'head of the family', the responsibility of being a 'lord', the responsibility of being a 'noble', the responsibility of being a 'leader'...... These responsibilities are very important responsibilities that he should not ignore, but on top of this responsibility, there are more and bigger responsibilities, such as the responsibility of 'civilization', the responsibility of 'order', and the responsibility of the future of the 'multiverse'.

In the face of the surging darkness, the warrior stands ahead, but behind him, there are always other things that need to be handled by others to share his worries.

This is the responsibility of the 'two'.

He gave tasks and instructions, entrusted a part of his mysterious plan to the two of them, and even put the possibility of being able to decide a part of his future in the hands of the two individuals

- If the value of weapons lies in helping the bearer solve problems, then there is no doubt that the weapon that can solve the above problems is an extremely rare 'magic weapon' in this multiverse.

"So, sister, don't be too self-conscious."

"Whether it's you or me, for the master, it's a 'magic weapon' that is hard to find in this multiverse."

Saying to himself, the black-haired teenager bowed his head and began to work.

And on the other side of the distant void, the silver-haired girl in armor also began her long journey with the same determined gaze.

They were Joshua van Radcliffe's weapons, even if they were inconspicuous, but they could cut off the troubles and deal with worries for that man.

"This year is the second year that the master has left the world of McCrove and gone to the maelstrom of creation."

This year marks the second year of Joshua van Radcliffe's journey into the maelstrom of creation.

When he left, he was approaching.