"Teleportation..."
"No, let's try another way."
After carefully examining his current physical state.
Lu Xing ultimately gave up on the idea of using [Warp Drive] to open a gate.
He still hadn't figured out why there was a familiar aura in this World Bubble... and "opening a gate" was not such a simple matter.
To suppress the hybrid Herrscher's Mimic Black Hole, Lu Xing had consumed 70% of his Honkai energy.
For a body with the Imaginary Emperor's reserves, consuming so much Honkai energy in a short time had caused considerable damage to his physical shell. Although nothing was visible on the outside, the internal cracks and wounds needed time to mend.
By the time he was fully recovered.
His Honkai energy reserves would likely drop to one-fifth.
In this World Bubble, the connection to the Imaginary Space was also far from being as stable and smooth as it was on a "leaf" of the Tree. The effect of [Imaginary Link] was still working, but this intermittent feeling... he could probably only successfully communicate with the Imaginary Space about one-third of the time.
As a World Bubble that had likely been submerged in the "Sea" for many years, the fact that it hadn't yet been eroded into an endlessly repeating "fragment" and could even connect to the Imaginary Tree to some extent, was something to be grateful for. The size of this World Bubble, and the scale of the civilization at the time it was "destroyed," must have been exceptionally massive.
At the same time.
Lu Xing also faced a second, smaller problem.
The intermittent connection was only part of it; even the width of the channel... had also been compressed to about one-third by the power of the "Sea."
With these two problems combined.
Lu Xing's current Honkai energy recovery speed was only a little over half that of a normal Herrscher. If any other Herrscher had fallen in here... never mind a normal one, even the Herrscher of the Void would probably die from a lack of Honkai energy before long.
Even for the Emperor.
On the "Sea's" home turf, he had to conserve energy as much as possible. At the very least, he could no longer unleash ultimate moves with his Authorities at full power at the drop of a hat.
But then again.
As long as the connection to the "Tree" was not completely severed, a full recovery was only a matter of time.
Before that...
He prepared to observe this world first.
His body levitated into the air.
The space of the World Bubble, in Lu Xing's perception, was both heavy and fragile.
And this was the second reason he hadn't used [Warp Drive]: the internal space of a World Bubble was quite strange. Its external manifestation was extremely "fragile," as if one could tear open a channel between two places with a gentle rip. But between the channels, the "heavy" quantum energy had already filled all the "crevices."
In other words.
Any spatial ability would affect the stability of the World Bubble.
The energy of the Quantum Sea would likely take this opportunity to pour in, completely engulfing the World Bubble that, for now, seemed to be struggling to survive.
If there was a good analogy... perhaps "water balloon" would be appropriate.
Therefore—
Traveling didn't necessarily require teleportation.
Although he was used to it, the Emperor's flight speed was not actually slow, especially after being enhanced by [Gravity Control] and [Fluid Creation]. Mach 10 was just a leisurely stroll, completely unaffected by his massive size.
Just like that.
Lu Xing began to "slowly" approach the familiar target in the far distance while observing this world. The reason for using "slowly" was that the size of this World Bubble truly warranted the word.
[Gravity Control] allowed Lu Xing to ignore the exaggerated effects of gravity.
But in reality, the gravity of this World Bubble, which his [Super Perception] couldn't even reach the edge of at full stretch, was more than six times that of Earth.
Given its mass, for any creature to have developed a civilization here—
"..."
There were none.
Mach ten.
Ten minutes.
Such speed did not affect Lu Xing's perception.
But in a full 600 seconds, Lu Xing failed to detect the aura of a single "civilized individual."
He had initially thought that the "creators" of this civilization had auras completely different from humans, and that they were difficult to identify after being eroded by quantum energy for so long...
But the truth was far from it!
In this World Bubble, among the various buildings and machines scattered across the surface and underground, whether intact or damaged, there was not a single trace of the aura belonging to their "creators"!
Was the civilization destroyed?
No, a look at the many intact buildings on the surface showed that they had not arrived at this state due to destruction by the Honkai or a Herrscher.
The vast majority of the damage and decay was caused by the passage of time and "assimilation" by quantum energy. The former's proportion was particularly slight; after all, given this civilization's technological level, the metal structural materials of these surface buildings... lasting a thousand years without decaying didn't seem to be a joke.
Lu Xing didn't even see many traces left by "war."
"They..."
"Passed the test?"
This was the first answer Lu Xing thought of.
In all the lands Lu Xing had passed over, not only was there no aura of the civilization's creators, but he hadn't even sensed the aura of a single "living thing." The only "living creatures" were the quantum monsters aimlessly wandering in the shadows of the steel structures.
To pass the test, for the entire civilization to complete its "coming-of-age ceremony" and ascend to space, would have been an absolutely romantic notion.
Unfortunately...
Such a possibility had never existed from the start.
Although Lu Xing didn't know what a civilization that passed the test would be like, the "home planet" of a civilization that had reached such a level should absolutely not have become a World Bubble and sunk into the "Sea."
Either.
They were wiped out, from spirit to body, by an enhanced Herrscher of Sentience... Judging by the civilization's level of development, the Herrscher they faced should have possessed that degree of power.
Or.
They chose to skip the test: taking a "small portion of people" aboard an "Ark," abandoning their home planet for the starry cosmos, to reproduce while hiding from the Honkai.
Both of the above were possible.
And reality did not give Lu Xing much time to speculate.
Just as he was less than halfway to that aura, a figure that was also in the category of "strange yet familiar" blocked his path:
The hybrid Herrscher.
During the previous battle, Lu Xing's attention had not been focused on the hybrid Herrscher at all. At that time, the hybrid Herrscher was merely a puppet created offhandedly by the Imaginary Tree and the Quantum Sea, possessing not a hint of "autonomy."
But now.
Her heterochromatic eyes of black and gold were still bizarre, but the influence the "Tree" and the "Sea" had exerted on her had vanished along with the broken connection to the Imaginary Space and the Quantum Sea.
The hybrid Herrscher at this moment...
Was an existence acting truly on its own will.