Edward and Luna walked out of the floating city, observing their surroundings. This place was obviously a strange world: There were nine suns in the sky, and upon closer observation, Edward was pretty sure they were living creatures.
The two took a moment to take samples of the floral and fauna, marveling at the wonder of this strange realm.
"So, do you have any clue?" asked Edward. Sadly, Luna shook her head, "This place contained too much information."
"What do you mean?"
"Every time I try to divine something, it's like swimming in an ocean, and each drop is a vast quantity of information."
"So, it's impossible to find a single target?"
"Yes?"
"Would it help with Morgana's help?"
"It's useless." Luna has her own Tower Spirit or Artificial Intelligence. Although it was not on par with Morgana, it was still of the highest caliber. However, even with its help, she could not process all the information in the environment.
"This place is both hell and heaven for Diviners. Divination Magic will enter a new era if we can find a way to navigate all this information."
Edward nodded before deciding to walk in one direction to see if they could encounter life and civilization. As they continued forward, they soon encountered an enormous creature.
"Is that a yeti?" asked Luna. The creature resembled a yeti with its monkey-like appearance. But there were still many differences: it was at least three times the size of a normal Yeti, standing at about 15 meters tall. It had extremely long legs, taking about 12 meters of its entire body. Lastly, its skin seemed to be made of rock, looking more like the combination of a Yeti and an earth elemental creature.
Edward noticed the creature was Tier 3, but he did not attack or contact it. Instead, he read the latter's memories.
"What did you find?" asked Luna.
"His intelligence is similar to an animal. All his memories are of hunting, sleeping, reproducing, and defecating," replied Edward. "Oh, his poop seems valuable."
"Why did you say that?"
"In his memories, he always sees humanoid creatures fighting for it," replied Edward as he organized the information he gathered. He condensed everything into a basic but usable area map based on the creature's hunting habitats.
He raised his hand to condense a holographic map. "According to deduction, we have a higher chance of fighting intelligent life if we travel here," pointed in the north-east direction.
Luna looked at the map and said, "I suddenly had a thought: Is it safe to teleport in this place?"
"That's a good question," uttered Edward, who controlled a small purple rock a few meters from to fly in his hand. He cast a teleportation spell on the rock, which appeared in the distance.
"It does not appear to be any problem, but the rock is an inanimate object, so we don't know what will happen to us for sure," commented Edward.
"In that case, let's fly."
The two flew to their destination, but they soon discovered another anomaly–their flying speed was drastically reduced for their tier. Furthermore, the speed at which their mana was draining was also abnormal.
"This place seemed to have many rules and restrictions," commented Edward.
"Indeed, along with many mysteries," nodded Luna.
They continued their journey, and they soon found a group that was resting. They looked like a caravan transporting something as they had a strange creature that acted as a vehicle.
The group saw many humanoid creatures with different color skins, scales, and horns, but there were also a few humans.
"What's wrong?" asked Luna after seeing the frown on his face.
"I can't read these people's minds."
"Really?"
"I can understand what they're saying through soul communication, but after entering their mind, I cannot find any memories. Even worse, I cannot enter past the first layer of their Soul Dimension."
"Is that so? You had no problem reading that strange beast's memories. Could it be the rules of this place to protect intelligent lifeforms?" analyzed Luna.
"Let's test your conjecture," said Edward as he used Legilimency to read the transportation creature of this caravan. As expected, he had no problem reading its mind and memories.
"Your conjecture might be correct."
The sampling size was too small to finalize things. After all, there is the possibility this group is special, and not all people in the Quantum Realm have this ability.
"What should we do next? Do you think we should secretly follow them?" asked Edward.
"No, follow my lead," said Luna. She cast a spell to change her appearance, making her hair disheveled and leaving a few burning marks on her clothes and body.
Then, the invisible spell on them disappeared, and she fell from the sky before the group. The team immediately became on guard, taking out their weapons, including guns and swords.
"Where is this place? Did I succeed?" said Luna as she looked around. After seeing people around her, she also stood up while guarding against them.
"Who are you people? And where is this?"
"&T^%^%^$^%$&T"
"Unknown language? Let's try another form of communication. Wait, why is my power weakening?" She frowned, showing confusion, worry, and a slight fear. However, all these emotions quickly turned into calmness. She then used her soul to communicate directly through the mind.
"Who are you people? And where is this place?"
The group was surprised; they could now understand this weird human woman who had fallen out of the sky. However, no one answered her as they looked at a man who was almost three meters tall with red skin and a large sword in his hand.
"Are you their leader?" asked Luna
"You can say that."
"Do you know where this place is?"
The leader did not immediately answer, "Why did you fall from the air?"
"I was in my lab doing an experiment, trying to prove the existence of the Quantum Realm. But things went out of control, and before I knew it, I was here."
The leader momentarily paused, "Good news for you, you've succeeded."
"Are you saying this is the Quantum Realm?"
"That's one of its most common names, but yes."
"Really? Is this why my power is reducing? Are the rules of this place different from the material world? What's the explanation for such a phenomenon?"
"You must be a mage," said the leader.
"Oh, sorry, I got carried away. Does this place have mages?"
"Yes, although rare, they do exist. Scientists from the upper world are more common than mages, but many still exist."
"I see," nodded Luna. "By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jessica Cana, and I am a Spiritual Mage."
"The name's Krovik."
"Sir Krovik, if you don't mind, could you tell me about this place," said Luna. "I can pay for your knowledge."
Krovik's eyes lit up after hearing this. He nodded to her before looking at his men and giving them a signal. Everyone dispersed, but Luna could see they were still on guard. Regardless, Krovik began to introduce this place to her.
'That was easier than I anticipated,' thought Edward a few minutes later. According to Kravik's narration, this place is controlled by three major factions: the Sun God Religion/Cult, the Tartarian Empire, and the Enlightened City.
His focus was on the last one–the Enlightened City. According to the leader, that place is controlled by a race known as the Savant. In other words, Edward finally found them.
He exhaled deeply.
Edward followed the group to the nearest city. He was in a daze throughout the journey, feeling a heavy weight lifted from his shoulder. Although finding the Savant Race did not guarantee he could deal with the Time Guardians, he felt much better just by knowing about his enemy.
After arriving at their destination, Luna separated from the group after compensating them and reuniting with Edward. The two began to visit this city, fact-checking much of the information Krovik provided them.
For example, the power limit of this world is Tier 4 for all creatures but Tier 6 for technology, and no one can break that limit.
"This place reminded me of Hermione's System Creation Research," said Luna, and Edward nodded. The Konosuba World is the perfect embodiment of System Creation Power. The way the world is established is there are certain rules; for example, after killing creatures, you receive points to use to increase magical abilities.
The Quantum Realm seems to be a very strict system, but the purpose of this system is still unknown.
"What's the plan? Do you want to head to the Enlightenment City immediately?"
"No, let's fix the floating city first," replied Edward. His first step was to buy a few Tier 6 ships or magical artifacts. The process was much harder than anticipated since this place was the domain of the Sun God Cult, which strictly controls all technology and powerhouses.
However, money can buy anything. This place uses barter and soul stone as a monetary system, so Edward gets what he wants after spending lavishly on the black market.
He dismantled these technologies and artifacts until he found the correct mana frequency that would properly allow his floating city to function. He did not take it with him but placed it in invincible mode.
Although there was little chance the Savant Race would be hostile to him, he needed to take precautions and not reveal this thing as of yet. The Savant Race had connections to countless plans in the material world, so he did not want to risk revealing the floating city's existence yet.
As such, he also did not bring it close to their territory. If they were in the material world, he was confident in the cloaking system of the city. Still, in this place, with a limit of Tier 6, his technological advantage was drastically reduced–especially before a race known for gathering knowledge of the entire Astral Realm.
So, Edward embarked on their territory after creating an artifact that allowed him to use the city's power from a long distance.
As the name implies, the Enlightenment City was an enormous city, but it was built on top of this giant mechanical spider-like construct with legs. There was an entrance, so Edward's ship headed in that direction. They soon discovered that the entrance required a test; they had to solve a puzzle, formula, or question before being granted access.
There were many questions from every category, from science to magic, to understanding of soul, and to countless other power systems.
'Interesting,' thought Edward before picking a question and answering, and Luna followed. The city was lively, full of different spaces, including certain creatures from the material world.
He also saw many members of the Savant Race, who wore loose black robes on their short bodies. They had massive heads and floated in the air instead of walking. They reminded Edward of the Watchers from Marvel, except they were much shorter.
After a short tour, they discovered this place was similar to the Myriad Codex Plane, with countless libraries scattered all over the city and the main one at the center. Edward had to solve countless questions to reach the central library, which required solving an unsolvable question before he could meet the higher-ups of the Savant Race.
Edward and Luna waited inside a room. According to the receptionist, he would meet the Grand Elder tomorrow morning. So, Edward waited until the next day when someone escorted him to a room with a large table.
Opposite them was a Savant Race dressed in gold and white, with wisdom shining on the latter's eyes.
"The name is Cori. How may I address you?"
"Edward Bones."
"I have to thank you for solving the Bloodline Sequence," said Great Elder Cori. "We have been studying the curse the Witch Plane placed on the Magus Race, and so far, our research has made little to no progress until you came."
"I'm glad I could help," nodded Edward.
"So, how are you finding this layer of the Quantum Realm? A very magical place, isn't it?"
"This layer? There are other layers?" asked Edward.
"Yes, this is only the first and most normal layer," the Great Elder nodded. "Once you go to the deeper levels, the things you can see are truly beyond any normal mind to comprehend."
"Are the other layers less restrictive?"
"That's correct. However, each of them has strange and sometimes baffling rules. If you have a chance to visit, you should be more careful."
"I see," nodded Edward as he figured out some things. For example, the Savant Race purposely chose to stay in this layer as a form of confrontation. In this place, even a Tier 11 powerhouse appeared; they cannot use power greater than Tier 4, and their technology cannot go higher than Tier 6.
Such a place is excellent for the Savant Race to base their kind and protect themselves from the greedy hands of all the other planes in the Astral Realm.
"So, what brings you here so far away?" asked Cori, his eyes seemed to contain all the truths of the universe.
"I need to know how to deal with the Time Guardians," said Edward directly.
"You've become a Time Criminal?"
"Yes."
"Well, you could stay here. I doubt they could do anything to you."
Edward shook his head; this solution was like running away to another plane.
"Do you know how the Time Guardians originated?"
"I don't know."
"In the beginning of the universe, Cronai created the Elder Gods, granting each of them certain authority at birth. Her purpose was to allow them to help her manage the universe as she stabilized the process of going from chaos to order.
"However, something unimaginable occurred; The Space Elder God created the first act of killing in the universe, eliminating the Time Elder God and taking its power."
Cori paused, giving Edward time to process this information.
"Cronai wanted to punish him, even kill him. However, the latter was a smart individual and a great talker. He convinced her that time needed to be preserved to prevent other lives from messing with the space-time continuum.
"He made an oath to guard the sanctity of the multiverse and all its timeline. At first, Cronai accepted his plea because she saw his position as guardian as a form of prison. However, as time passes and the universe is full of life, time criminals begin to appear, thus showing Cronai the need for the Guardians. After that, the Space Elder became more and more powerful until he encountered the Magus Race, who almost annihilated him."
'Is this why the Time Divine Spark was on Earth? From the time the Magus Race dealt with the Time Guardian?' thought Edward.
"As you can guess, he survived and waited until the Magus Race disappeared. Now, he's currently the strongest being in this plane."
"How strong is he?"
"Well, he's the only Tier 11 existence in this plane. Better yet, he's more powerful than ordinary Tier 11 since he has the authority to borrow Cronai's power."
Edward frowned as this news was the same as Cronai told him, even more detailed.
"So, how do I escape my fate as a Time Criminal?"
"You must survive the Time Game."
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