"Mother, how can I get the essence of that World-Soul? And if the essence of a World-Soul is taken away from a planet, what will happen to that planet's environment?" Josh pushed away the thought of drawing out Azeroth's World-Soul essence, then asked Tiamat.
As soon as his words fell, a golden light rose from the lava before him.
That golden light quickly gathered into a flower bud.
When the bud bloomed, what appeared before Josh was a golden seed.
"This is the Seed of the Celestials, made from my own essence. Normally, if you plant it in a planet with potential, after millions of years, it can grow into a true Celestial. But if you plant it in a planet that already has a World-Soul, it can swallow the World-Soul's essence and then grow into a Celestial embryo much faster… As long as you harvest it at the moment it first forms, it won't gain its own mind. By then, I will help you fuse it into your body. Once you fully absorb it, you will become one of the Celestials in the truest sense."
Tiamat's voice echoed again in Josh's mind.
"But just as you guessed, once the World-Soul of a planet is stripped away, even though no serious problems will appear right away, over time it will lose its power to heal itself, and it will turn into a normal dead planet, no longer fit for life. And during the seed's growth, the planet's World-Soul will fight back with everything it has. You must find a way to protect it!"
"I understand!" Josh looked at the Seed of the Celestials with a serious face, then stored it in his Inventory.
"Enough. I'm still not fully grown, and creating this seed has taken too much of my essence. I need to rest now!" After Josh put the seed away, Tiamat gave her order to leave, her message full of tiredness.
"Thank you for your gift!" Josh bowed slightly, then left the underground space.
When he returned to the surface, he called for the Tauren brothers, the Shanhoof twins.
"Sir!" The two came and greeted him with deep respect.
"Later, I want you to return to Pandora and do something for me," Josh said.
"Just tell us!" They didn't ask what it was. Their loyalty was strong, and that was why Josh could trust them with such an important task.
Josh himself could not travel to other worlds using the system, so he had to give this work to people he could fully trust, who were strong, and without ambition. The Shanhoof brothers were perfect. Tauren had always been known for their reliability.
"Find the Na'vi's sacred tree. Plant this seed under it. Then, with the troops I give you, guard it and destroy anything that dares to come near it. Wait until it grows and matures. At the moment it ripens, take it and place it into this box… As for knowing when it's ready, you will feel it yourselves when the time comes." Josh placed the vibranium box holding the Seed of the Celestials before them as he gave the order.
"We will finish the task, even if we must give our lives!" Feeling the deep power coming from inside the box, the brothers understood the weight of the mission. Their faces grew grave and solemn as they took the box carefully and gave their promise.
"Good. Next, I will talk to Quaritch and have him send you over!" Josh nodded, then pulled the two into his Inventory without any resistance.
"Hahahaha! Jake, how do you feel right now? I bet you're heartbroken and hopeless, right? But don't worry, soon you'll be with them again!"
High in the sky, Quaritch rode on the back of a massive winged beast, chasing a blue figure fleeing wildly on a direhorse.
That figure was none other than Jake Sully, who had now fully become a true Na'vi.
Since creatures from Azeroth could stir up violent reactions among Pandora's wildlife, Quaritch had already sent them all back to Josh. He only kept the gene-modified dinosaurs, and so his mount was now a giant flying beast.
But even with just dinosaurs, these genetically altered monsters crushed Pandora's native creatures with ease.
And once the robots were paired with these beasts, their fighting power in the jungle left the native Na'vi utterly desperate.
So even without using weapons of mass destruction, it took Quaritch only a single day to completely track down Jake Sully and the Na'vi clan with him.
The moment Jake's location was confirmed, Quaritch—who had long been obsessed with hunting down this traitor—personally led the chase.
The outcome was obvious.
The Na'vi already had no physical advantage against Quaritch's robot army. With the dinosaur troops taking away their home ground advantage, they had no chance at all.
Not to mention the massive gap in technology—wider than the Mariana Trench.
Back when the RDA security force first lost, a key reason was Pandora's magnetic field, which messed up electronic targeting systems. Without their sights, human soldiers were forced to rely on their bare eyes, and their slower reflexes compared to the Na'vi left them at a huge disadvantage.
But now, Quaritch's fleet used technology given by Josh, based on the Star Wars world. Civilizations there were already used to unstable magnetic fields and had tech to deal with it.
And with robots, their reaction speed completely crushed the Na'vi.
So there was no repeat of the chaotic skirmishes between the Na'vi and the old RDA forces.
At the very first clash, the Na'vi vanguard was instantly wiped out.
Jake's beloved Neytiri, still marked by her two-arrow grudge, became Quaritch's first target. With a single blast from his energy rifle, she was shot dead on the spot.
Jake had no time to grieve. He could only flee on his direhorse, running as fast as he could… and that was only because Quaritch had ordered his men not to kill. He wanted Jake alive.
That was why this scene looked more like a cat playing with a mouse—Quaritch was toying with him.
Jake could do nothing. He tried to fight back with a gun—Quaritch shot it out of his hands. He tried using a bow, but Quaritch simply caught the arrow with his bare hand.
The direhorse's speed was no match for the enhanced flying beast.
But just as Jake was sinking into despair, he suddenly realized Quaritch was gone from behind him.
He let out a breath of relief, but at the same time, sorrow filled his heart.
His lover, his friends, his warriors—every Na'vi fighter had been slaughtered.
But Jake quickly came back to his senses. He had to get back to the tribe and lead the survivors to escape.
Last night, he had already wanted to convince Neytiri and the clan to move.
But even though he had become the clan's leader, and even though he was the Olo'eyktan's son-in-law and the mighty Toruk Makto the Na'vi revered, in the end, he was still an outsider.
As long as things didn't touch the Na'vi's bottom line, no one would question him. But asking them to abandon the sacred tree and flee without a fight—that crossed the line.
Even though they had already seen the terrifying firepower of the fleet, and the near-immortal durability of the machine soldiers during the beast stampede, they still would not accept it.
And with Neytiri—the daughter of the former clan leader and the woman Jake loved—leading the opposition, his proposal was flatly rejected.
That was why the battle just now had happened.
No, not a battle. A massacre.
A slaughter easier than a human stepping on ants.
Thinking of this, Jake didn't hesitate anymore. He drove his direhorse straight toward the sacred tree—the heart of the tribe.
On the other side, Quaritch was speaking with Josh.
The only person who could make Quaritch give up his cat-and-mouse game with Jake was, of course, Josh.
"…Aren't you afraid I might get greedy, and keep the Seed of the Celestials for myself?" Quaritch asked after hearing Josh's explanation.
The trader could not hide what the traded item really was. Unless the holder didn't even understand what they were carrying, there was no way to smuggle things in secret.
And Quaritch clearly understood.
So Josh had no way to hide the truth of the Seed of the Celestials.
But whether Quaritch would dare to steal it—Josh had no fear.
Because…
"You can try. But you're just an enhanced human. The Seed's power is far beyond what someone at your level can touch. Forget fusing with it—even holding the fruit will only end with you being consumed. And once it ripens, it can't be stored. If too much time passes, it will awaken its own full mind, becoming a real Celestial. And not like Pandora's fake Celestial, a planet's will that can only stir animals around… This would be a true Celestial. If you're lucky, you and all humans might serve as its slaves. If unlucky… heh." Josh gave a cold laugh as he explained.
Quaritch fell silent.
He knew Josh was exaggerating—but could he risk it?
No. He couldn't.
"I understand. I'll do everything I can to make sure it bears fruit," Quaritch finally said with a solemn face after a long pause.
A man must know when to be content. That was one of the rules Quaritch had lived by in decades of service.
That was why, back when RDA still held Pandora, even though he had great authority, he never acted recklessly, but instead cooperated with Parker Selfridge, the civilian administrator.
And now, Quaritch had already gained so much from Josh that he sometimes felt like he was living in a dream.
This time, the price Josh offered was even more shocking—he promised that if the fruit of the Seed of the Celestials was delivered whole into his hands, then all the fleets Quaritch had borrowed before would be gifted to him outright.
Faced with such an enormous price, Quaritch didn't dare harbor even the smallest selfish thought. Josh had dared to tell him everything openly because Josh could afford to gamble.
After closing the communication, Quaritch took a deep breath and released the Shanhoof brothers from the system storage.
"Didn't think we'd meet again so soon!" Quaritch greeted them.
"Then we'll leave it in your hands, General Quaritch," the brothers nodded in return.
"Let's move out now. We've just crushed the Na'vi's main forces, and their homeland has no real strength left to resist. We can plant the seed immediately. At the same time, I'll order the fleet to shift its core to the Na'vi's Mother Tree and build our base there. When that's done, even if another beast tide like before happens, nothing will be able to shake the seed's existence!" Quaritch said, full of confidence after the brief greetings.
Don't be fooled by the fact that his current forces didn't seem too many—Josh hadn't only sent over the Shanhoof brothers, but also a vast host of proto-dragons, naga, elven mages, and many other armies from the magical side. Since their goal this time was to destroy Pandora's planetary will outright, there was no need to worry about animal riots anymore.
The Shanhoof brothers exchanged a glance, then nodded in agreement.
Quaritch released the proto-dragons, and the elder brother, Koruno Shanhoof, as a shaman, mounted one. The younger brother, as a druid, transformed directly into a storm crow.
Then, this terrifying joint army of technology, beasts, and magic began marching straight toward the sacred Mother Tree.
From the very first moment these otherworldly beings carrying strange power set foot in Pandora, the planet's World-Soul sensed their arrival.
At once, just like before, a beast tide erupted across all of Pandora. Countless animals surged madly toward the Na'vi's Mother Tree.
Meanwhile, the Na'vi themselves had no idea what was happening outside. Instead, they were in the middle of a fierce internal conflict…
Because Jake had returned to the clan alive, but alone, and with no way to prove what had truly happened on the battlefield—yet he insisted on leading everyone to abandon their home and flee.
At once, he was met with doubt from every surviving Na'vi.
The Na'vi were still people, and like humans, they had the same emotions.
Facing Jake, the outsider, distrust was their truest feeling.
Before, Jake's actions had brought them benefits, victories, and hope. As the Toruk Makto, he had earned enough trust.
But now, with all his closest allies dead, with no way to bring them more gains, and even demanding something that threatened their deepest interests…
That hidden doubt rose back to the surface.
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