Ring-!
"Hum…"
Kiana groggily opened her eyes. She found herself sleeping in their late third grade deluxe bed.
A wave of shame came crashing down on her.
"..!"
Right after kicking Shi Tian out, she could not calm down. The contents of her wild dream and their actual experience severely disrupted her mind.
Kiana is no longer the same clueless paramecium. She has the knowledge base of a college graduate. She learned a lot of eye-opening things in her biology courses.
Later on, fueled by her inner demons and curiosity, she played with it for the first time.
The physique of a Purple Mansion Realm far exceeds human durability. She managed to do it for three days and nights before she snapped out of it. The bed's surface got soaked up with her fluids. Her brain went wild imagining all sorts of things with Shi Tian.
Kiana knew his rough size when she felt it with her thigh. That reference made her crazy during these three days.
In an attempt to clear her mind, Kiana went to a cultivation session. Another two nights' worth of sleep passed until she woke up now. Although it was no longer as rampant as before, that desire still existed.
"Am I… a pervert..?"
The Tuna came to this unsurprising conclusion. It is in her nature to be perverted with her significant other.
Her face heated up. She knew she could no longer stay in this cursed bed.
With a snap, she returned back to their room within the orphanage.
To her surprise, Bronya is sitting atop Shi Tian's bed. She gave Kiana a surprised look before she regained her composure.
"Subject Kiana. The Bronya is waiting for you."
"Bronya..?"
"Seele went missing five days ago. Shi Tian went and followed her traces. Up to now, there have been no updates from the two."
"..!"
Kiana's mind instantly locked in onto that matter. Her face tinged with red turned serious.
Bronya paid it no heed and continued explaining:
"The Sovereign, Doctor Tesla, and Doctor Einstein locked onto Shi Tian's traces two days ago. The Bronya urges Kiana to find them as soon as possible."
"Okay!"
Without any time to lose, Kiana teleported straight into the Salt Lake Base. She met up with the two doctors and heard more detailed things from them.
"The Sea of Quanta is a 'dimension' with unquantifiable distance. You need an anchor to create an artificial sense of direction…"
Einstein explained everything patiently.
"We don't know why, but Shi Tian has a 'presence' strong enough to cause disruptions within that place. Think of it as a meteorite landing on the sea. Its shockwaves will be visible in the naked eye."
Tesla then followed suit with her explanation:
"We have a friend travelling the Sea of Quanta. You can go and meet her. She knows more things about it than us. You will most likely come across her given all the disturbance he made along the way."
"...Thank you."
Kiana's figure left. It did not take her long to arrive at the underwater base.
'Anchor… I need to copy this instrument's anchor to step in his starting point…'
*****
Seele hasn't finished exploring this "Bubble World" despite her swift flight speed. Her other self guided her through this process. Unfortunately, this "Bubble World" is extremely unique.
{"There's nothing about it in the database…"}
"What does it mean..?"
{"Normal Bubble Worlds have varying sizes. The larger it is, the faster it collapses. There are a few exceptions, but this is the case in most Bubble Worlds."}
"Then, can I find my way back once this place… disappears?"
{"...I don't know."}
"..."
The Sea of Quanta is as disordered as the imaginary space. The ordinary rules within the 'real dimension' do not necessarily apply to them. The Sea of Quanta is even more disorderly than the imaginary space. Directions and magnitude always change in this place.
Meaning, Seele gets lost the moment she steps out of this Bubble World. Whether or not it breaks down, she will remain stuck inside the Sea of Quanta. Even that remains out of question as she could not leave this Bubble World.
"How about cultivation?"
{"This…"}
Seele knows about the realms above the Foundation Establishment Realm. The Purple Mansion Realm talks about 'understanding' the dao rhymes—she could do that. Add her very strong mental power, there is no doubt her mental cultivation is at the Purple Mansion Realm.
The same goes to her body cultivation. Wisps of dao rhymes are continuously generated from it. Her water-based body cultivation technique, [Hanhai Heaven Tempering Art], grants Seele the ability to exponentially increase her physical strength. Since it is the technique's sole function, without any auxiliary effects on cultivation, she can temporarily go from the early stage to the peak stage for a good amount of time.
It is why Seele felt more secure despite being lost—she became stronger than before.
"Hum..? Why…"
Just then, she noticed a drastic change in her qi cultivation technique. She found a mysterious space inside her dantian.
The [Tianshui Falling Art]'s contents came to her mind.
"...[Small Accomplishment] enables a mysterious space that allows the unlimited simulation of techniques and spells…"
Everyone's qi cultivation technique overlaps in effect. Kiana's boost her learning progress in technique masteries by mastering techniques. Seele's does the same. The subtle difference between the two, however, lies in the 'bonuses' of their cultivation environment.
As a void-related technique, Kiana makes more progress in qi cultivation while practicing in the 'void'. Seele, on the other hand, sees more progress while practicing in the 'sea'.
It is for such a reason she goes off to the Sea of Okhotsk to practice. A small section of it has a spirit vein of the low third grade.
When Seele tried to enter a meditative state, it only took her a second to do so. Her progress is also extremely fast. The low third grade spirit vein she created around her got most of its spiritual qi absorbed by her.
She easily reached her consumption limits, just like Kiana.
However, it did not end there.
Hum-!
Buzz-!
An invisible presence swept through her unnoticeably. Something had seemingly broken Seele's limits. She no longer became constrained by the "Plus One Law". Her absorption and growth rate grew until she matched the limits of an early Golden Core possessing high grade spirit roots.
A steady progress was made from her early Foundation Establishment qi cultivation.
Simultaneously, the grade of the spirit vein grew. It only stopped when it reached the concentration of the peak fourth grade.
Soon, Seele fell into a trance.
{"..."}
Her other self could not believe what happened. Seele's decision to test immortal cultivation's methods gave unexpected reactions.
Only, she saw something strange from it. The presence that descended in this place is extremely vast. If Sirin sensed it, she would be surprised to see it far surpass the likes of the Honkai God.
{"That presence was…"}
An intuitive feeling pointed out to one thing:
The Sea of Quanta.