The Sea of Quanta was still a sea, so Vill-V had dressed in beachwear. It felt more fitting that way. Vill-V cared deeply about style.
Resting her cheek on one hand, she lounged in the high driver's seat with one leg crossed over the other. The arch of her foot curved elegantly, her beach sandal dangling from her swaying toes as it lightly tapped against the seat with a soft rhythmic sound.
"Sigh, no ocean, no holiday, no beach... so there's nothing at all, is there? The closest thing to a beach here is a bunch of quantum crabs."
The appearance of the Sea of Quanta was vastly different from what Vill-V had imagined.
She had originally thought it would resemble a sunlit ocean, shimmering brilliantly; countless starlit bubble worlds drifting slowly upon its surface; wherever the eye could see, a scene of grand and magnificent splendor.
And yet... Vill-V saw none of that.
However, although it was not an oceanic landscape, the scenery here was, in its own way, even more spectacular.
Under the power of the Cosmic Juggernaut, probability clouds manifested in her field of vision as blue mist.
She could see probability clouds of all shapes everywhere. They were not soft like ordinary clouds, but more like sharp, sheet-like crystalline structures, similar to mica.
Yet these probability clouds had no clearly defined boundaries. It was impossible to accurately estimate their shapes or range. Like ever-shifting kaleidoscopes, they constantly altered their own appearance.
In real-number space, humans could still move forward by walking. But the presence of probability clouds made such movement extraordinarily difficult.
Sometimes, when you took a step, it was a perfectly normal step forward.
Sometimes, when you took a step, it became two or three steps.
Sometimes, when you took a step, it was as if you had not moved at all.
Sometimes, when you took a step, you instead retreated several steps backward.
You could never know where your next step would lead.
Aside from the omnipresent probability clouds, due to the energy-level transition effect, the energy of microscopic particles was usually fixed at discrete levels.
Put simply, if you could use a phone here, you would find that its battery drained in stages—100%, 75%, 50%—rather than decreasing linearly.
Of course, because of various issues here, using a phone was impossible. In fact, most electrical devices would fail entirely.
This was not describing the inherent properties of the Sea of Quanta itself, but rather what Vill-V was witnessing.
In her vision, everything outside looked like constantly refreshing slides—one stepped scene per second.
That was only because the Cosmic Juggernaut was filtering the effect. In reality, the refresh frequency was beyond human perception. If one observed this world with the naked human eye, it would appear as nothing more than a flickering blur.
In the quantum world, anything was possible. There was no precise method of measurement. Distance, space, time—all of them were extremely unstable to human observers here.
Among all this, the relatively stable existences were the pearl-like, shining bubble worlds.
And now, the only bubble world in Vill-V's sight had turned into a mirage—a true mirage.
"Is this what happens after a bubble world is destroyed?"
The bubble world that had just been annihilated by the Herrscher of Reason did not vanish immediately. Instead, it transformed into a white afterimage like a mirage, before being slowly consumed by black decay, breaking into fragments, like fallen leaves returning to their roots.
Watching the bubble world be devoured, Vill-V's teasing voice carried a faint tremor.
She was excited. At last, she had entered this mysterious domain within the Honkai worldview. Only in a Honkai-ridden universe could one glimpse such a spectacle.
And yet, she was also afraid.
Now, Vill-V had truly detached from the bubble world and arrived in the unknown Sea of Quanta. Without the protection of a bubble world, the sensation was like a wanderer leaving home to roam far away.
Moreover, the collapse of the temporary bubble world meant she had lost yet another reliable means of returning to the intrinsic world.
If she wanted to "go home," she could only place her hopes on the quantum sea beacon developed by Expert.
There was no need to elaborate on what it meant to sink to the bottom of the Sea of Quanta. This civilization did not have an ancestor like Kevin waiting in the depths, casually fishing up Seele, Bronya, or Welt while enjoying hot pot.
Once you were lost, you were lost forever—just like Kevin.
At present, judging from the signal display, the beacon still seemed to be functioning normally. Hopefully, no accidents would occur.
But the Sea of Quanta was precisely the kind of place where every kind of accident could happen.
And it was filled everywhere with Quantum Shadows. Exposed like this, Vill-V might not survive more than a few days.
Let alone moving about freely. Those capable of entering the Sea of Quanta were exceedingly rare. Those rejected by it would suffer discomfort at best, or fall unconscious and die at worst.
Within the Sea of Quanta, even the Herrscher of Reason—without spatial authority like that of the Cosmic Juggernaut—would find every step difficult.
This was an extremely microscopic world. Many rules that governed the macroscopic real world simply did not apply here.
Planck did not possess the Cosmic Juggernaut. She could only rely on her own Herrscher abilities to deal with these challenges.
"Holy hell, the Herrscher of Reason can directly create a bubble world? That's completely broken." Disbelief filled Vill-V's eyes.
The Herrscher of Reason had restructured her armed train into a bubble world. It still looked like a train on the outside, but its essence had undergone a complete transformation. It was a small world in the form of an armed train.
She did not possess the technology to manufacture a Cosmic Juggernaut. Therefore, the bubble world she had just deconstructed was her best choice for stabilizing herself in this Sea of Quanta.
Although her movement speed had slowed considerably, she could now move freely within the Sea of Quanta.
Originally, creating a bubble world within the Sea of Quanta required the Second Herrscher Core, which possessed complete spatial authority. Yet the Herrscher of Reason seemed like she was cheating—capable of anything. Vill-V was green with envy.
"What the hell, just a single touch and she parsed the entire bubble world? That's insane. Are you some kind of creator god? If she ever got her hands on the Cosmic Juggernaut, that would be disastrous.
Damn it, I want to play with the Herrscher of Reason's powers too!
Compared to her... I can't do anything at all!"
Although the Herrscher of Reason moved very slowly, Vill-V could at this moment simply activate spatial teleportation and leave the Sea of Quanta.
But if she did that, the Herrscher of Reason would likely seize the opportunity to return to the intrinsic world. They were still far too close to it.
[We cannot let her return to the intrinsic world. If that happens, humanity will have to face two Herrschers at once. We must take her far away from the intrinsic world before escaping.]
[And we absolutely cannot allow a Herrscher of Reason to wander freely in the Sea of Quanta. Who knows what kind of "surprise" she might bring humanity the next time they meet.]
[The Herrscher of Reason is learning.]
[It would be best to strike her down while she has just resurrected, while she is still weak... and deliver a fatal blow.]