Ultimate Firewall

When Elysia arrived at the hall, she found Eden, Mobius, and Aponia there as well.

"Huh? Why are you all here? How strange. I don't remember today being any special occasion."

Mobius immediately wore a mocking expression. "Elysia, do you think everyone is like you, throwing a party every few days? This is the first time in Fifty Thousand Years that a Herrscher has entered. It's a rare research opportunity."

Unlike Jackal outside, Mobius was a data-based lifeform. Even though she knew the Herrscher of Corruption was right in front of her, she still wore an excited expression.

It only took a little observation to notice that beneath her fervor toward the Herrscher, Mobius had clearly let out a sigh of relief the moment Elysia returned to the hall.

"Is that so, Mobius? But every time we have a group gathering, you've never been late, no matter how busy your experiments are. You're obviously happy when everyone sits together and chats, too, aren't you?"

The Sea of Quanta was a space constructed from the memories of thirteen people. Enoshia could clearly sense that among the emotional fluctuations of the twelve people, Eden, Aponia, and Mobius were the most intense.

Who was the strongest in the Sea of Quanta? Without a doubt, Kevin. What was the toughest thing in the Sea of Quanta? Without a doubt, Snake's mouth.

Enoshia fully understood their nervousness. After all, aside from Elysia, not a single Herrscher of the Previous Civilization could communicate with ordinary people.

Watching Mobius turn her head away with an arrogant expression, Enoshia knew she had confirmed everything she wanted to. The Flame-Chasers were still the Flame-Chasers of her memories, and nothing absurd had changed because of the altered timeline. It was time for her to leave.

The Sea of Quanta was an excellent place for training in every respect, but it was uniquely unsuitable for her, the Herrscher of Corruption. When all the information in the Elysian Realm became known without any exploration, and she could defeat the Flame-Chasers simply by moving a finger instead of using her brain, the training had clearly lost its meaning.

After Enoshia left, Aponia and Su inspected the entire Elysian Realm several times, but they still found nothing wrong.

"Oh dear, this won't do. Everyone united against her and drove her away dejectedly. If she comes again, we'll have to properly apologize to her."

Aponia nodded. "I'm sorry, Elysia. My judgment was flawed. When the Herrscher of Corruption cut off Su's and my observation, I instinctively assumed she would use the opportunity to do something. But now it seems she was merely stating a fact to us: she could have destroyed everything with a light press, yet she didn't. Without a doubt, that is the best proof that she possesses humanity."

Aponia saw that Elysia's face was filled with happiness. This might have been her happiest moment in Fifty Thousand Years.

After leaving the Sea of Quanta, Enoshia returned to Sirin's villa. In truth, her trip to the Elysian Realm had been nowhere near as relaxed and carefree as Aponia had described.

Without a doubt, everything in the Elysian Realm was essentially data. Even anti-Kevin armament 666, which could delete the entire Elysian Realm with a single command, was fundamentally just a program.

Since it was a program, then in the original story, why couldn't the Herrscher of Corruption, who was practically invincible in the Data Space, ignore the program's usage conditions and directly modify it to eliminate the threat? Why did she have to take such a huge detour?

The answer was simple: she couldn't. When Enoshia first entered the Elysian Realm, she truly felt as though everything was under her control. But she soon discovered that something was wrong. In some parts of the Elysian Realm, she couldn't modify anything—she couldn't even view them.

It turned out that places like anti-Kevin armament 666, which could affect the entire Elysian Realm, had all been fitted with the highest-level firewall invented by Dr. MEI and improved repeatedly by Vill-V.

Practice had revealed the truth. This firewall had successfully blocked the Herrscher-level virus that was her. The rule that "only Elysia has permission to use anti-Kevin armament 666" was something the Herrscher of Corruption had to obey as well.

But thinking about it, the Herrscher of Corruption of the Current Civilization in the original story was undoubtedly like the Herrscher of Wind. Its authority sounded incredibly powerful, but its achievements and performance were pitiful. It was clearly like Finality in the virtual world, yet it ended up dying in a standalone network alongside a group of data-based lifeforms. Forget killing a real person—it hadn't even managed to affect the order of human society in reality.

One of the conditions of Enoshia's deal with the World Serpent was that Cecilia, Sirin, Bella, and perhaps even Ivan in the future could obtain the opportunity to train in the Sea of Quanta without joining the World Serpent. After all, that was a place that could truly transform a person.

After some time, she gave the others as concise an introduction as possible to the Sea of Quanta and the Fusion Warriors. After all, exploring the unknown and turning it into the known was also an important part of growing.

"I never imagined there could be such a place in the world..." After hearing the explanation, Cecilia was simply deeply shaken.

"I won't explain any more for now. I'll leave it for you to discover little by little yourselves."

Sirin was noncommittal about Enoshia's proposal.

"Although the people there are... well, they really are quite eccentric, they're all good people. Just treat it as an immersive exploration game. Go through the stages and fight the monsters."

Enoshia knew that emphasizing that they were heroes would have no effect on Sirin. To convince her to visit the Sea of Quanta, she had to appeal to her interests.

"I'll go when I want to."

Fortunately, Pufferfish was still willing to listen.

"Oh, right. Madam Cecilia, after more than half a year of construction, St. Freya Academy has already begun to take shape."

"So soon?"

"Yes. It's expected to officially open around 2005. After all, it was your wish 'when you were alive,' so there hasn't been any opposition at all. When the time comes, Theresa will serve as the headmaster of St. Freya Academy in her capacity as the leader of the Far East Branch."

"Ah, Theresa has worked hard. She has so many things to take care of, and she even has to help look after Kiana and Siegfried. If I were there..."

At that, Sirin immediately showed a worried expression.

"Ah, how could I not understand what you mean? I'm dead in everyone's eyes now, so I'm actually the safest. It's just that Kiana is my child too, and I failed to fulfill my responsibilities as a mother. I only feel guilty about that."

"Don't worry. You'll definitely come back to life for real someday. In the end, your whole family will surely reunite, with not a single one of you missing."