Tesla's explanation made it very difficult for everyone to imagine such a situation. It was completely different from the parallel world theories they had known before.
Einstein took over the topic and explained, "I know you're confused, but there's no need to be. Although Noldrei's world seems strange, it's actually the normal state in quantum mechanical theories of parallel worlds."
"The effect of the Sea of Quanta observed in his world is actually the result of material motion under quantum leaps. There's no space for human activity in the Sea of Quanta. There's not even any reason for the experience of time to exist. The way we can dive deep into the Sea of Quanta as if swimming or immersing ourselves is what he finds most incomprehensible."
"However, what comes next is the truly terrifying part."
"According to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and observations of the Casimir effect, a vacuum secretly possesses all the properties of a particle: spin, or the polarization of light, and energy, etc."
"This is called vacuum zero-point energy."
"Now, if we connect the dots and combine it with the research on Noldrei's body, we can get our answer."
"As a being who can evolve into a special photon lifeform, Noldrei's existence itself is consistent with the quantum mechanics of his world. It's also fully consistent with the parallel world theory of his world. It is precisely because of the manifestation of vacuum zero-point energy that parallel worlds do not appear as branching offshoots like they do here."
"On the contrary, the Imaginary Tree structure constructed by Imaginary Energy, and the Bubble Universe results shown by the Sea of Quanta, actually violate the principles of quantum mechanics."
The conclusion Einstein presented was the truly terrifying one.
"In other words, if Noldrei's world is a normal universe consistent with quantum mechanics, then the way the Imaginary exists is not a result of the world's own genesis. Nor is it simply a result of our observation."
"Rather, it is a second-hand energy source that has been used and tested by some civilization, some lifeform! Noldrei's origin may not be from the future, but possibly from the past—a past where no entity had tampered with the universe's energy to create Imaginary Energy."
At this point, Einstein stopped her excessive speculation.
Everyone didn't really have much feeling about the situation behind it all, because the time scale of the universe was simply too vast, so vast that it made people feel completely indifferent.
Raiden Mei only half-understood. She mulled over Einstein's words and asked, "Dr. Einstein, if we explain it according to your theory, does that mean... the form of existence of parallel worlds, the form of existence of the universe, actually underwent some kind of massive change at some stage? Is that what you mean?"
"Then how do we determine whether this hypothesis is correct? Even if we make a bold assumption, isn't this a bit too bold? We haven't even left the solar system, let alone talk about changing the form of the universe's existence."
"Does such a lifeform really exist? One that can fundamentally twist and... superimpose...? Separate and peel apart these entangled parallel worlds, and then use some kind of energy to separate these worlds one by one and create different branches."
"That sounds... it sounds..."
Raiden Mei subconsciously looked at Noldrei. She hesitated for a moment and said, "It's a bit like carrying out a re-differentiation of the universe according to cosmological constants, a form of cosmic colonialism."
Could it be that the one before them wasn't a man from the future, but an ancestor from the past who had not yet mastered quantum mechanics?
Wasn't that speculation a bit too bizarre?
"It's normal for you to think that way. After all, Noldrei is a lifeform that can exist in a photon state. No lifeform is closer to the essence of the quantum than him. The form of life, the reshaping of cells, and Imaginary Energy..."
Einstein was silent for a moment before saying, "This is also why we would speculate this way. If you suddenly obtain a power that can actualize the concepts you create, the process consumed in the middle must be borne by other beings in another way."
"This is also why I suspect Imaginary Energy is some kind of second-hand energy source. Its high degree of binding with the Cocoon of Finality, and the Imaginary domains it constructs between the Leaves, all show us the conclusion that it has been modified."
Kiana was silent. She wondered if her brain hadn't evolved, or if the body she was using wasn't from the future. Why was it that this all sounded easy to understand, but when it came to proving it, she was completely lost?
Ah, what a coincidence.
Child, this is quantum mechanics!
"Our universe has been tampered with and modified? Why does that sound so absurd?"
Kiana scratched her head, but then she thought about the existence of something as unreasonable as the Cocoon of Finality, and a mysterious lifeform like Noldrei. What did a little more incomprehensible absurdity matter?
"You don't have to think too much about it. Maybe we're just simply wrong?"
Einstein's final consolation had no effect; instead, it made people think even more.
Noldrei wasn't concerned with all that. He asked, "To recreate a lifeform similar to me, it's necessary for human civilization to study the power of the Imaginary. Thank you very much for Dr. Einstein's help. We've made great progress in the direction of our future research."
Einstein didn't take credit. She shook her head and said, "No, even if you hadn't said anything, we would have continued to study your body. After all, this is also your own wish. The rest can be left to Tesla to explain."
Tesla put her hands on her hips and appeared before everyone again, lifting her head and saying, "Hey, thanks to Noldrei's photon form observation and the comparison of the different observation results from the two worlds, we've made such great progress. Now, let's bring the problem back to the Cocoon."
"That what's-her-name... Sa? The strange one who thinks she, as an individual, is a civilization."
"She probably isn't qualified to take on the possibility of creating another Cocoon, right? Instead of trying to get any news out of her, how about we try to drain her of her quantum energy?"
"That should be relatively easy to do, right?"
The solution Tesla proposed was so 'inhumane,' clearly treating Sa as a slave to human civilization. However, according to Academy City's social principle of equivalent rights and responsibilities, Sa deserved such a fate.
"Excellent! Dr. Tesla is right!" Noldrei was the first to agree with this opinion and even added, "Then after she finishes transforming Venus, we'll just kill the donkey after it's done its work at the mill."
'Is that how you use that idiom?'
Bronya felt a little scared listening to this. Fortunately, she hadn't done anything evil back then.