Whoosh.
Over an unfamiliar stretch of ocean, a translucent object flashed past about five hundred meters above the sea, accompanied by a brief, sharp tearing sound. Only after it vanished on the horizon did the sound wave reach the surface, leaving a long streak in its wake.
It was Bailan, traveling in the Tidal Civilization's crashed hyper-spacetime craft. Using its Curvature Spacetime jumping technology, she had been making her way toward the distant, vast, indistinct region of dark coordinates where the Tidal Civilization was located.
Three years had passed.
She was now far from the mainland.
Even inside the Tidal Civilization's hyper-spacetime craft, Bailan could sense the many dangers she had faced along the way: the thunderbolts in the sky, the whirlpools and hidden currents on the ocean floor.
If the craft hadn't remained in Curvature Spacetime jump mode, these ever-present disasters in the depths of the ocean would likely have capsized it long ago.
"Beep beep beep beep beep."
The timer suddenly began to beep.
Bailan, curled up inside the hyper-spacetime craft with a book, jolted and checked the time.
After confirming it once more, she took an excited, deep breath and used the Crystal Ball controller, modified by Windsor Business Academy, to slow the craft's operating power.
Pfft...
After the super-fast, ultra-pure water craft emerged from Curvature Spacetime, its hazy, translucent shape gradually became real. As the rumbling grew clearer, the craft maintained its momentum even after leaving Curvature Spacetime, like a stone skipping across a river, continually darting between the real world and Curvature Spacetime.
The craft rubbed against the energy naturally present in the air, and a mass of flames sprang up around it.
After a while,
the craft stopped above this seemingly endless stretch of ocean, hovering in midair.
The burning energy on its surface