The Dimensional Codex of Destruction

"First, walking on water."

The others watched Qin Mo tread on the surface of the water, ripples constantly forming beneath his feet, yet he didn't sink at all.

"Next is..."

As he approached the fountain step by step, the water from the fountain fell on Qin Mo without a single drop seeping into his clothes; instead, it flowed off him smoothly.

"Condense the Ripple onto your fingertips and place them on the fountain."

As Qin Mo placed two fingers on the fountain's water jet, he suddenly took off from the spot, rising with the ascending water current to the very top of the fountain. He then stood steadily on the apex of the fountain, not falling with the water.

"Without relying on friction, but on the power of Ripple, you can achieve this. Friction requires a larger surface area to be effective, while with Ripple, a smaller surface area is easier because less Ripple needs to be condensed. The Ripple used to adhere to water is of an offensive nature, while remaining completely dry like I am is of a defensive nature."

Qin Mo stood on the fountain, even lifting his foot to step on the falling water. "To do what I'm doing requires using both natures of Ripple simultaneously. If you can achieve this, it can be considered mastery."

As he spoke, Qin Mo jumped down from the fountain. He extended his hand, holding a water ball the size of a fist. It formed a perfect sphere, unchanging. Kiana curiously poked it, and her finger sank in. She could feel the coldness, but when she withdrew her finger, not a single drop of water clung to her hand.

"This is also one of the uses of Ripple. Start practicing with these basics. Although it's not as versatile as Honkai Energy, Ripple itself is quite miraculous."

Chapter Twenty-Three: Theresa's Suspicions

"So this is why you're back so late?"

Inside the villa, the five of them stood before Theresa, being reprimanded by her. "If you had something to do, why didn't you let us know!"

The reason there were five people was that Fu Hua had also come along. After finishing their practice, Mei, citing the late hour, invited Fu Hua to dinner, and Fu Hua did not refuse.

Upon their return, the five were scolded by Theresa, whose stomach was rumbling with hunger.

"Alright, alright, Theresa, they were all training, not out playing," Himeko said, drinking her wine.

"Headmaster, this is my fault. Please don't blame them," Fu Hua stepped forward to take responsibility. However, she found it strange. She rarely saw Theresa looking so "authoritative." But even when angry, the petite and cute Theresa didn't exude much authority.

"Since Fu Hua says so..."

Theresa's expression turned grim.

"Then let's have hot pot today!"

She then moved a large hot pot from under the table and placed it on the table, smiling.

"Oh, I saw you all hadn't returned for a while, so I figured you wouldn't have time to cook tonight. Himeko and I prepared a lot of ingredients."

Theresa said with a smile, bringing out many pre-prepared ingredients from the kitchen. "And drinks too."

She then poured a cup of green liquid for each of them.

"..." *5

"Ew... Auntie, this young lady refuses to drink this!"

Upon seeing the bitter melon juice, Kiana looked like she wanted to jump ten meters away, clearly one of the victims.

Bronya, on the other hand, downed the bitter melon juice in one gulp, then slowly poured the rest onto the ground.

"Headmaster... why do you always like drinking this kind of thing..."

Mei's mouth twitched awkwardly. She then realized that the only drinks available at home, besides beer, were bitter melon juice.

Fortunately, there were fresh fruits to make juice from. After preparing the juice, the group finally began their dinner.

"Oh, Fu Hua, do you want to move in with us?"

During dinner, Theresa suddenly asked Fu Hua.

"Me?"

Fu Hua hadn't expected Theresa to suddenly suggest this and didn't know how to respond. However, remembering that she had received a new mission just a few days ago, she nodded.

"Yes, as you can see, this villa is too spacious. It would be nice to have more people."

Fu Hua looked at the others. Kiana was still happily eating dinner, completely oblivious. Mei smiled at Fu Hua upon hearing this, "If it's Class Monitor, I have no objections."

"Bronya has no objections either."

Qin Mo, who had been quietly eating dinner, saw everyone looking in his direction. "I don't have any objections either. But why did the Headmaster suddenly think of this?"

"Hmph! It's all to keep an eye on you, you brat!"

"???"

Qin Mo was speechless. "It's not that serious..."

And so, at the dinner table, the arrangement for Fu Hua was settled with a few words among them.

Soon, they finished dinner. Theresa then said to Qin Mo, "Next, we're going to the hot springs. You know this, Qin Mo, right!"

"Yes, yes, yes. I'll go back to my room first."

After watching Qin Mo leave for his room alone, Fu Hua looked in Theresa's direction. She couldn't tell if it was her imagination, but she felt that Theresa seemed to be targeting Qin Mo.

"Fu Hua, you probably don't have bedding, right? I'll take you to get some."

Theresa turned and said to Fu Hua.

"Let me do it," Mei said, standing up to lead Fu Hua. Theresa immediately stopped her, "You guys go ahead and enjoy the hot springs. You've been in class all day."

She then hurriedly pulled Fu Hua upstairs, leaving the others feeling a bit strange.

Himeko leaned back on the sofa, watching Theresa shake her head before taking another sip of her beer.

"It's right here," Theresa said, leading Fu Hua into a storage room and closing the door.

"Headmaster?" Fu Hua asked, confused by Theresa's unusual behavior, but she saw the serious expression on Theresa's face.

"Fu Hua, what do you think of Qin Mo?" Theresa asked Fu Hua seriously.

"Qin Mo? As a teacher, he's quite responsible, but his talent as a warrior isn't particularly good," Fu Hua evaluated after thinking about the evening's events.

"Then, Fu Hua, have you ever heard of Ripple and Haki before this?"

Fu Hua shook her head, "I've never heard of them. In fact, I asked Qin Mo about them before."

After relaying Qin Mo's answer to Theresa, Theresa nodded, "While it doesn't sound like there's a major problem, there's not much credibility to it, is there?"

"Does the Headmaster... have any opinions about Qin Mo?"

"It's not that I have opinions about Qin Mo, but after talking with my grandfather about some things, combined with his unusual behavior, I'm very suspicious of his identity."

Theresa sighed. Her first instinct was that Qin Mo was connected to Cecilia, but when she traded Ripple as a bargaining chip to Otto for funds, Otto seemed to realize that Theresa was hiding something.

Although he didn't state it directly, he subtly prompted Theresa to investigate him herself.

The deeper she investigated, the more suspicious Theresa became. On one hand, Qin Mo's records were minimal. For example, he had appeared in a certain country, but there were no records of what he specifically did, when he entered, or when he left. The most detailed record was from a few months before the third Honkai event in Chang Kong City.

Theresa felt as if Qin Mo had appeared out of nowhere in this world.

Combined with the strange things she saw after arriving at the villa, Theresa's doubts about Qin Mo's identity grew.

"Qin Mo is very strange. His origins are almost untraceable, as if he materialized in Chang Kong City. Afterward, he came into contact with the Third Herrscher and Kiana. I don't know his purpose, especially since he voluntarily asked to join St. Freya Academy. However, his help to the academy has been tangible, and Kiana and Raiden Mei trust him a lot. So, I hope you can help me monitor him during your free time. If you notice any bad behavior, tell me, and preferably, stop him directly."

Fu Hua nodded, "I understand. I'll keep an eye on him, but Headmaster, you're being too obvious with your hostility."

Wouldn't it be better if I...

Fu Hua thought of the mission Otto had assigned her to watch Kiana. She had always monitored Kiana discreetly, never approaching or distancing herself.

"I can't help it. All the students in the academy are my precious students. I'm always worried something might happen," Theresa sighed. "Anyway, I've already instructed others to keep an eye on him. If you help, there shouldn't be any problems. But you're right, I shouldn't be targeting him like this."

"Alright, Fu Hua, get some bedding. I'll take you to the hot springs. Although Qin Mo's origins are suspicious, the things he brought are quite good."

Fu Hua had been wondering what a hot spring was since earlier. She only understood when she saw it with her own eyes. Moreover, according to Theresa, this hot spring was created by Qin Mo.

Creating a hot spring out of thin air, along with the fruit trees nearby that supposedly yielded a harvest daily, made Theresa's suspicions understandable.

Chapter 24: A World of Ruin

Alone in the room, Qin Mo was preparing to continue fiddling with the System. The System's missions had been stalled for several days, and no new missions had refreshed on the second day, or even up to this point.

His daily missions were gone too. It was worse than before.

The good news was that the dungeon's recharge progress was increasing by about 4% daily, meaning it would reach 100% in less than a month.

But after fiddling with it, there wasn't much he could do unless he did a gacha pull.

Without a source of Crystal income, he had no intention of spending Crystals on draws.

So, what he could do was...

"Let's check out the World Bubbles."

Qin Mo had observed many World Bubbles through Heaven's Gate and finally selected one that looked promising.

Now, he was preparing to take a brief tour there to test his abilities.

Heaven's Gate extended its hand and placed it on Qin Mo's head. Even though the method of world traversal had transformed into something different, the way of traversal remained the same: through a pinching motion.

In an instant, Qin Mo felt himself detached from the World Bubble he originally inhabited and enter a strange space, a world without up, down, or front.

No, not a world, but a place that couldn't even be called space.

Qin Mo realized its true nature...

The Quantum Sea!

This scene only lasted for a moment. Protected by the power of his Stand, Qin Mo quickly traversed the Quantum Sea and arrived in a new world.

In a place he was unaware of...

"Another me, did something just pass by?"

A girl with short, black and blue hair opened her sea-blue eyes. She had just sensed something flash by in the otherwise empty Quantum Sea.

Within the Quantum Sea, there exist countless world bubbles. However, her body had already been completely quantumized. Even if she entered any world bubble, she wouldn't be able to integrate into it, instead falling back into the Quantum Sea, much like a piece of iron dropped into the ocean.

"Did you misread, Seele? This is the Quantum Sea."

"Perhaps..."

She took out the diary she had been holding for who knows how long and continued her record. Only by doing this, and by conversing with her other self, had she managed to persevere until now.

Meanwhile, Qin Mo was naturally unaware of what had just transpired. He had arrived in a dilapidated world.

Ruins and remnants of walls were everywhere, many places still burning with flames. The city was destroyed, roads upturned, and even rivers were dammed by massive boulders.

"A world of destruction? No, if that were the case, the Imaginary Tree should have severed it and cast it into the Quantum Sea."

When a world is beyond saving, it's time for the Imaginary Tree to abandon it. However, Qin Mo had chosen a world bubble that was still intact and on the Imaginary Tree.

"Humanity shouldn't be extinct. I'll look for someone first."

There was a lot of Honkai Energy in the air, but not to the extent of the Great Eruption. Qin Mo could tell this from the fact that he hadn't developed Honkai sickness.

Switching to Koby's character card, he was currently like Nen; he hadn't been able to comprehend Haki with his main body yet and could only use it through the card.

"Over there..."

Using Observation Haki, Qin Mo immediately detected the presence of humans nearby. Although he didn't know the specifics, where there were people, there were those he could question.

He moved swiftly, his feet carrying him forward, and soon he saw a group of humans being chased by Honkai Beasts.

"A Ballista-class Honkai Beast."

Looking at the Honkai Beast chasing the group of people, Qin Mo instantly identified its class. Those being pursued were ordinary people.

He stomped his foot with great force, creating a crater in the ground. Qin Mo then rapidly appeared above the Honkai Beast.