At humanity's current level of development, technology could theoretically be divided into the following tiers according to the scale at which matter could be manipulated:
Atomic, subatomic, and quantum.
Nuclear fission and fusion weapons belonged to the atomic tier, yet they ranked at the very bottom.
Next came the subatomic tier, which included the heavy-particle cannon Vill-V had given MOTH, along with next-generation technological weapons far beyond the era such as the black holes MOTH was currently researching.
If the first two categories of weapons were still founded upon physical laws understood by humanity, then the quantum tier completely surpassed human imagination.
In the Honkai universe, the quantum tier could generally also be called the Herrscher tier or Imaginary tier. "Quantum" was merely an umbrella term of convenience and did not necessarily mean that its power originated from the Sea of Quanta.
Quantum-tier technology could freely manipulate quantum states, alter fundamental physical constants, and even overturn the structure of space-time.
To science, technology at this level was practically indistinguishable from magic. Weapons of this kind could even alter the rules of the world. As long as science could formulate a law, they could essentially break it.
Even in the technologically advanced human civilization of the Previous Era, atomic-tier nuclear fusion technology had yet to be mastered. Meanwhile, the technology Vill-V possessed from the Three-Body universe also stopped at the subatomic tier. One could easily imagine how difficult it was to reach the quantum tier.
But in truth, on the scale of the universe, the quantum tier was only a beginning—a starting point. The quantum tier encompassed every form of power beyond human understanding, including things such as time.
"A temporal rift? Is that the ability of those strange runes? As expected of the final boss little Pardo found for me."
Vill-V tried to activate her Herrscher transformation, only to discover that her body had been firmly locked in space and could not move at all.
Before time, everything would be sealed away, with the exception of super Kiana.
Unless I become a complete Herrscher, I'm afraid it would be extremely difficult to retain the ability to move inside this temporal rift.
Even Wendy from the Current Era, before she matured into the complete form of the Third Herrscher, couldn't escape White Comet's time-space lock.
Of course, once a Herrscher matures into its complete form, that's an entirely different concept.
Although Vill-V's body had been frozen, her thoughts had not. She was relying on a Herrscher's authority to accomplish that.
Expert had already become capable of borrowing the power of the simulated Fenghuang Down to establish preliminary communication with and make use of Wendy's Fallen Feather.
The simulated Fenghuang Down truly deserved to be called a genius invention modeled after the Herrscher of Sentience's coffin. Even Expert, who was also Vill-V, had yet to fully decipher its operating principles.
Still, as one of its quasi-creators, she could use it with ease, and Vill-V had already developed many applications for it.
For example, through the simulated Fenghuang Down, she had fabricated Wendy's consciousness, obtained access privileges to the Fourth Herrscher Core inside Wendy's Fallen Feather, then used the Herrscher of Wind's authority to accelerate her thoughts and counteract the mental sluggishness caused by the simulated Fenghuang Down.
Originally, the mental delay produced by Fenghuang Down caused Vill-V to take a full 11.68 seconds to respond—enough time for an Olympic athlete to run one hundred meters.
The Herrscher of Wind's authority to control the flow rate of thought perfectly compensated for this weakness, reducing Vill-V's mental delay to 0.01312 seconds and restoring it to the level of an ordinary human.
Of course, she could make her thoughts flow even faster, but Vill-V had no desire to experience some ultimate golden experience. An ordinary person's thinking speed was already enough. Excessively accelerated thought would only produce negative effects in all kinds of ways, both mentally and physically.
When a person's thoughts and mind operated too quickly, it would accelerate the aging of the physical body.
A computer made for a good comparison. No matter how fast the program ran, the physical hardware still had to keep up. Otherwise, the machine would simply burn out.
Vill-V had no interest in finding out what it felt like to become a burned-out machine.
Besides, with six Vill-Vs supporting her through multithreaded thought, wasn't that far better than merely accelerating her thinking?
The reason Vill-V's thoughts were unaffected by the time stop was also because of the authority of wind.
The authority of wind could not only summon storms in the airless vacuum of space and control the abstract flow of consciousness, even the passage of time itself had failed to escape its influence.
According to the hypothesis that every Herrscher was actually a projection of Finality, Expert leaned toward the theory that the Herrscher of Wind was Finality's projection of its authority over time.
If the Herrscher of Wind were given an opportunity to mature into a complete Herrscher, then learning from a certain priest in a certain JOJO manga and pulling off a Made in Heaven-style acceleration of time would be entirely possible.
Without question, every law controlled by a Honkai Herrscher could only be described as a BUG from humanity's perspective—something with no solution.
Only Vill-V's thoughts had been accelerated by the Herrscher of Wind's authority. Her body remained completely unable to move.
Vill-V could now somewhat understand just how helpless Wendy had felt in the original plot when she first encountered a time-space lock. Even a Herrscher's body could be restrained. It was absurdity opening the door for absurdity—absurd all the way home.
"Rune script... is this alien technology too?"
Unfortunately, Vill-V had never studied Nordic history and knew very little about those Northern European legends.
Odin walked up to Vill-V, seemingly seeing straight through her thoughts.
"Futhark, the runes. Since that Ragnarok, when I fell from the World Mother Tree Yggdrasil, I obtained the wisdom of that detestable being."
Odin was completely unaffected by the temporal rift. As he moved, the metal covering his head transformed into an ancient silver-and-black helmet adorned with antlers on both sides.
Vill-V silently complained in her mind, You might as well have said nothing. Who the hell is supposed to understand any of that?
Strangely, despite already holding the initiative, Odin showed no intention of attacking Vill-V.
Instead, his gaze was respectful and his expression devout as he looked at Vill-V like an ardent missionary.
He spread both arms, his powerful frame encased in armor.
"O domina praesaga, spes humani generis,"
(O woman blessed with prophecy, divine hope of humanity,)
"Tu sola arcana divum pernoscere posses,"
(You alone may perceive the mysteries of the gods,)
"Mens tua profundis perscrutatur futura fatis."
(Your mind searches deeply into the future of fate.)
"O vates magna, aetheris alma filia,"
(O great prophet, blessed daughter of the stars,)
"In te reposita est humanae salutis spes,"
(Humanity's final hope rests upon you,)
"Te duce progredimur per ardua ad astra iter."
(Guided by your prophecy, we cross hardship and journey toward the stars.)
"O regina excelsa, numinis aurea custos,"
(O exalted queen, golden guardian of divinity,)
"Tu nostri populi dux fortis atque decus es,"
(You are the brave and wise leader and glory of our people,)
"Te fidens sequitur turba pia, candida turma."
(Those who believe in you follow your steps, a devout host of the chosen.)
Odin's voice seemed to possess some kind of magic. Although Vill-V could not understand it, the fervent emotion within it poured directly into the listener's heart.
The cadence of those sounds also lingered in the air alongside his words, circling all around them and refusing to fade for a long time.
Magician Vill-V even suspected that he had planted speakers in every direction to play recordings and echoes.
The volume and frequency were already becoming as shrill as the noise of an airplane taking off.
Vill-V's head started aching the moment she heard that demonic chant. She almost felt that simply stopping her thoughts altogether would be preferable.
His intonation was obviously some ancient dialect of a Northern European tribe. Vill-V might have been a genius, but even she could not possibly know every obscure dialect in the world, much less ancient foreign languages from several thousand years ago.
And he was speaking at ten times normal speed!
At the man's speaking speed, this had already surpassed a university entrance exam English listening test. No human being could possibly make out what he was saying.
Those sounds even began piecing together incomprehensible images before Vill-V's eyes.
A man, a woman, one sheep, two sheep, three sheep...
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