Theresa's Suspicions / A World Destroyed

"First, water walking."

The others watched Qin Mo step onto the water's surface. Ripples continuously spread beneath his feet, yet he showed no sign of sinking.

"Then..."

He gradually approached the fountain. The water sprayed onto Qin Mo without a single drop seeping into his clothes; it simply slid smoothly off.

"Condense the Ripple onto your fingers, then stick them to the fountain."

Qin Mo extended two fingers and pressed them against the fountain's jet. His entire body suddenly shot upward from where he stood, rising with the continuous stream of water until he reached the top of the fountain. He then stood firmly atop it without falling with the water.

"Without relying on friction, you can achieve this through the power of Ripple. Friction works better with a larger surface area, but when using Ripple, the smaller the area, the easier it is, because less Ripple needs to be condensed. Sticking yourself to water requires offensive-type Ripple, while keeping yourself completely dry like I am requires defensive-type Ripple."

Standing atop the fountain, Qin Mo even lifted his foot and stomped on the falling stream beneath him. "To do what I'm doing, you need to use both types of Ripple at once. If you can reach that level, you can be considered truly proficient."

As he spoke, Qin Mo jumped down from the fountain and held out his hand. A fist-sized ball of water rested in his palm, perfectly spherical and completely unchanged. Kiana curiously poked it and her finger went straight in. She could feel the chill inside, but when she pulled her finger out, not a single drop of water clung to it.

"This is another use of Ripple. Start practicing with these basics. It may not be as versatile as Honkai Energy, but Ripple itself is incredibly fascinating."

Theresa's Suspicion

"So this is why you all came back so late?"

Inside the villa, five people stood before Theresa as she scolded them. "If something came up, couldn't you have told us?"

There were five of them because Fu Hua had come along as well. After training ended, Mei had invited Fu Hua to dinner on the grounds that it was already late, and Fu Hua had not refused.

Once the five of them returned, Theresa, whose stomach had been growling with hunger, immediately began lecturing them.

"Alright, alright, Theresa. Everyone was training, not out playing."

Himeko spoke from the side as she drank beer.

"Principal, this was my fault. Please don't blame them."

Fu Hua stepped forward voluntarily and took responsibility. Still, she found it strange. She rarely saw Theresa looking so "full of authority." Though, with how petite and adorable Theresa was, even when angry, she did not look particularly imposing.

"Since Fu Hua says so..."

Theresa lowered her face solemnly.

"Then let's have hot pot tonight!"

She suddenly pulled out a huge hot pot from beneath the table, set it on top, and smiled.

"Well, you hadn't come back for so long that I knew there probably wouldn't be time to cook tonight, so Himeko and I prepared lots of ingredients."

Theresa smiled as she brought out many prepped ingredients from the kitchen. "And drinks."

Then she poured everyone a glass of green beverage.

"..." *5

"Eugh... Auntie, I'm not drinking that!"

The moment Kiana saw the bitter melon juice, she looked like she wanted to leap ten meters away. Apparently, she was one of its victims.

Bronya, on the other hand, downed the bitter melon juice in one gulp, then slowly collapsed onto the floor.

"Principal... why do you always like drinking this stuff..."

Mei's mouth twitched awkwardly. Then she realized that aside from beer, the only drink in the house was bitter melon juice.

Fortunately, there was fresh fruit they could juice. Once the juice was ready, everyone finally began dinner.

"Oh, Fu Hua, would you like to move in with us?"

During the meal, Theresa suddenly spoke to Fu Hua.

"Me?"

Fu Hua had not expected Theresa to bring this up so abruptly. For a moment, she did not know how to respond. But remembering the new mission she had received a few days ago, she nodded.

"Yeah. You can see it too, this villa is too empty. Having more people around would be nice."

Fu Hua looked at the others. Kiana was still happily eating dinner, completely oblivious to the conversation, while Mei smiled at Fu Hua after hearing it. "I have no objections if it's the class monitor."

"Bronya has no objections either."

Qin Mo, who had originally been minding his own business and eating dinner, saw everyone looking his way. "I don't have any objections either. But why did the principal suddenly think of this?"

"Hmph! Isn't it to keep an eye on you, brat!"

"???"

Qin Mo was speechless. "Is that really necessary...?"

And just like that, with a few casual words at the dinner table, they settled Fu Hua's living arrangements.

Soon, everyone finished dinner. Theresa then said to Qin Mo, "Next, we're going to soak in the hot spring. You know what that means, right?"

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

After watching Qin Mo return to his room alone, Fu Hua looked toward Theresa. She did not know whether it was an illusion, but she felt that Theresa seemed somewhat hostile toward Qin Mo.

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

Theresa turned to Fu Hua.

"Let me do it."

Mei stood up, ready to lead Fu Hua there, but Theresa immediately stopped her. "You all go soak in the hot spring first. You've had classes all day."

Then she hurriedly pulled Fu Hua upstairs, leaving everyone else feeling puzzled.

Himeko leaned against the sofa, watched Theresa, shook her head, and took another sip of beer.

"It's right here."

Theresa led Fu Hua into the storage room and closed the door.

"Principal?"

Seeing Theresa's unusual behavior, Fu Hua asked in confusion. Then she saw the serious expression on Theresa's face.

"Fu Hua, what do you think of Qin Mo?"

Theresa looked at Fu Hua seriously as she asked.

"Qin Mo? As a teacher, he is fairly responsible. But as a warrior, his talent is not particularly impressive."

Fu Hua thought about what had happened that evening before giving her evaluation.

"Then had you ever heard of Ripple or Haki before this?"

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

After Fu Hua told Theresa what Qin Mo had said, Theresa nodded. "Although it doesn't sound like there are any major problems with it, there's no real credibility to it either, is there?"

"Principal, do you seem to... have some opinion of Qin Mo?"

"It's not that I have an opinion of Qin Mo. It's that after talking to Grandpa about some things, coupled with the unusual things he has shown, I've become very suspicious of his identity."

Theresa sighed. Her first impression had been that Qin Mo was someone connected to Cecilia. But when she had used Ripple as leverage to sell it to Otto in exchange for funds, Otto had seemed to notice that Theresa was hiding something.

Though he had not stated it directly, he had still hinted that Theresa should conduct an investigation herself.

The deeper she investigated, the more suspicious Theresa became. On one hand, there were very few records of Qin Mo. For example, there were records of him appearing in certain countries, but no records of what he had done there, when he entered, or when he left. The most detailed records were from the months before the Third Herrscher incident in Chang Kong City.

Theresa felt as though Qin Mo had appeared in this world out of thin air.

Then there was the series of strange things she had seen after coming to the villa, which only made Theresa even more doubtful of Qin Mo's identity.

"Qin Mo is a very strange person. His origins are almost impossible to trace, as though he suddenly appeared in Chang Kong City. After that, he came into contact with the Third Herrscher and Kiana. I don't know what his motives are, especially since he actively requested to join St. Freya Academy. But the help he has provided the academy is real, and Kiana and Raiden Mei both trust him greatly. So I hope you can help me keep an eye on him in your daily life. If he does anything bad, tell me. It would be best if you could stop him directly."

Fu Hua nodded. "I understand. I'll keep watch. But Principal, you've made your hostility too obvious."

Not like me...

Fu Hua thought of the mission Otto had assigned her to keep watch over Kiana. She had always observed quietly, never deliberately approaching or distancing herself.

"There's no helping it. Everyone at the academy is my adorable student. I'm always worried that something might happen."

Theresa sighed. "In any case, I've already asked the others to help me watch him. If you help too, there should not be any problems. But you're right—I really shouldn't target him so openly."

"Alright, Fu Hua, take some bedding for yourself. I'll take you to the hot spring. Qin Mo's origins may be suspicious, but the things he brought are pretty good."

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

Creating a hot spring out of thin air, along with those fruit trees beside it that supposedly bore fruit once a day—it was no wonder Theresa was suspicious.

A World of Ruin

While alone in his room, Qin Mo had originally planned to fiddle with the system some more. Its missions had been inactive for several days. No new missions had refreshed the next day, or rather, there had been no missions at all up to now.

Even the previous daily missions were gone. It was worse than before.

The good news was that the dungeon's charging progress increased by about four percent every day. In other words, it would reach one hundred percent in less than a month.

But after checking, he found there was nothing he could really do with it unless he drew some cards.

Without any source of income for crystals, he did not plan to spend crystals on card draws.

So the only thing he could do was...

"Take a look at the world bubble."

Qin Mo had observed world bubbles through Heaven's Gate for a long time before finally selecting one that looked promising.

Now, he planned to take a brief trip there and test his abilities.

Heaven's Gate extended its hand and placed it atop Qin Mo's head. Even though it had transformed into a somewhat different ability, the method of traveling between worlds remained the same: he crossed over through a snapping motion.

In an instant, Qin Mo felt himself leave the world bubble he had originally inhabited and enter a strange space, a world with no up or down, no front or back.

No, it was not a world. It was a place that could not even be called space.

Qin Mo realized what this place truly was...

The Quantum Sea!

The scene lasted only an instant. Protected by the power of his Stand, Qin Mo swiftly crossed the Quantum Sea and arrived in a new world.

Somewhere he did not know about...

"Other me, did something just pass by?"

A girl with short black hair tinged with blue opened her sea-blue eyes. Just now, she had sensed something flash through this empty Quantum Sea.

Within the Quantum Sea were countless world bubbles, but her body had already become completely quantumized. Even if she entered any world bubble, she could not merge with it and would only fall back into the Quantum Sea, like a block of iron dropped into the ocean.

"Seele must have seen it wrong. This is the Quantum Sea."

"Maybe..."

She took out the journal she had been holding for who knew how long and continued writing. Only by relying on this, and talking with her other self, had she managed to endure until now.

Naturally, Qin Mo had no idea what had just happened. He had arrived in a ruined world.

Broken walls and rubble lay everywhere. Flames still burned in many places. The city had been destroyed, roads torn apart, and even rivers blocked by enormous boulders.

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

If a world was truly beyond saving, it would be abandoned by the Imaginary Tree. But Qin Mo had chosen an intact world bubble that was still attached to the Imaginary Tree.

"Humanity shouldn't be extinct. Let's find someone first."

There was plenty of Honkai Energy in the air, but it was nowhere near the level of a Great Eruption. Qin Mo could tell because he had not developed Honkai sickness.

He switched to Koby's character card. Like Nen, he still could not comprehend Haki with his own body and could only use it through the card.

"Over there..."

As he spread his Observation Haki, Qin Mo immediately detected human presences nearby. He did not know the exact situation, but where there were people, there would be someone to ask.

He broke into a run, and soon saw a group of humans being chased by Honkai Beasts.

"Ballista-class Honkai Beasts."

Watching the Honkai Beasts chase the group of people, Qin Mo immediately identified their rank. The people being pursued were ordinary civilians.

He pushed off the ground with his foot, leaving a crater under the force of his step. Qin Mo then rapidly arrived above the Honkai Beasts' heads.