"If I use a black hole to capture us, and then separate myself into another black hole, by altering the black hole's gravity, I can achieve the illusion of manipulating time.
Although it's not truly stopping time, when time is stretched infinitely and its change approaches zero, who can say that I'm not truly stopping time."
*Smack—*
Ryn slapped Penglaiji Ryn, who had been listening in a daze and had dozed off, waking her up from her slumber.
"You asked me to teach you how to get stronger, and I even imparted the great skill 'The World' to you, and you're sleeping here!!"
"Uh... I think! It's not just a matter of whether I can understand it or not. The more crucial problem is that I can't create a black hole either..."
Penglaiji Ryn rubbed her fingers together pitifully, then said to Ryn with righteous indignation.
"Besides, if I could throw black holes around, what else could possibly be a problem?"
"Because black holes aren't omnipotent either..."
Ryn thought of Kevin and Hare, and of Sirin, who could suppress the pseudo black hole created by Welt Yang with a single hand.
"You should also know that black holes can be divided into four major categories by their mass: micro black holes, stellar black holes, intermediate-mass black holes, and supermassive black holes.
Supermassive black holes, according to astrophysical theory, are black holes that could only be formed during the Big Bang. The range of their gravitational influence is impossible to verify, but judging from the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy—Sagittarius A*—the entire galaxy is within its gravitational range.
It pulls on the entire Milky Way, causing the galaxy to take on a spiral shape, and constantly pulls matter and energy from other galaxies towards it, to be eventually devoured by it.
Intermediate-mass black holes and stellar black holes are similar, but not entirely so. The mass of an intermediate-mass black hole is between 100 and 100,000 times the mass of the sun. A stellar-mass black hole is formed from the collapse of a massive star, about 20 times the mass of the sun. Neutron stars can also collapse into black holes. The smallest known black hole has a mass of only about 3.8 times that of the sun.
But these three types of black holes are too far-fetched for us. We can't release them, nor is it possible. If such a black hole were to be born from our hands, the first thing that would likely happen is that we would be captured and devoured by it. That would be fun...
So, in other words, the black holes we can actually release are all of the fourth type—micro black holes, or mini black holes.
Such black holes are extremely unstable and will disappear on their own at any time due to their instability.
They can also be easily created and destroyed by artificial means. Like this, watch closely."
Ryn flicked Penglaiji Ryn's forehead to get her to pay attention.
Then, Ryn created a sesame-seed-sized micro black hole in his left hand, and then gathered a large amount of Honkai energy in his right hand.
While Penglaiji Ryn was still shocked that Ryn could actually create a black hole, Ryn clapped his hands together, and the large amount of Honkai energy collided with the black hole.
The entire world suddenly came to a halt. Quarks, quanta, positrons and electrons, gamma rays, and other particles that Penglaiji Ryn couldn't name were now all laid out before her eyes in an orderly fashion, as if magnified.
It was as if, in Penglaiji Ryn's small eyes, the birth of the universe, or its destruction, was being re-enacted in Ryn's hands...
"Black holes are substances that constantly devour and grow, but their devouring efficiency is highly correlated with their volume and mass. When the energy exceeds the black hole's devouring threshold, the black hole will be neutralized and annihilated.
This is true not only for micro black holes, but for other black holes as well. It's just that their devouring thresholds are too large... Neither the Earth, nor the Sun, nor the solar system can reach their thresholds..."
Ryn paused for a moment after speaking, then said to Penglaiji Ryn with a chuckle.
"But so what~ My first Authority is a gift from the great will of the Sea of Quanta. As long as I have enough time and energy, I can create a supermassive black hole too. Though I might get annihilated by the black hole myself, who's to say for sure..."
Ryn was still talking eloquently, but Penglaiji Ryn at his side had long since passed out.
A mortal must not look directly at a god, a mortal must not spy on the divine realm.
Just now, Ryn had slowed everything down to a crawl, presenting everything before Penglaiji Ryn's eyes. The amnesiac Penglaiji Ryn could learn these things more easily, but the subject was too mysterious, exceeding her comprehension threshold, and her body's protective mechanism caused her to faint.
Gently placing Penglaiji Ryn on her own bed, Ryn now felt as frustrated as feeding a meat bun to a dog.
"Wasted my breath, all that talking for nothing..."
After Penglaiji Ryn fainted, Tianqi popped out of Ryn's body again.
Like a mother looking at her daughter, Tianqi sat by Penglaiji Ryn's bed and gently stroked her long hair.
Tianqi said softly, "At her current level, you'd be better off teaching her how to control Honkai energy."
Ryn shook his head, having no intention of teaching Penglaiji Ryn how to use Honkai energy.
"She will become a Herrscher. A Herrscher's control over Honkai energy is inherently effortless. No matter how much a mortal trains, the upper limit of their control over Honkai energy is merely a Herrscher's starting point...
For me to teach her how to use Honkai energy would be putting the cart before the horse and a waste of time. Compared to that, it would be better to teach her more about how to use black holes in the future."
"Hmph, what's the use of black holes? A powerful black hole is also accompanied by a huge size and scale, and a black hole that can defeat an enemy like Kevin or Hare would have to be at least a stellar-mass black hole.
You can create such a black hole, but the result would be that the Earth and even the solar system would be affected, and then everyone would be finished."
Tianqi scoffed at this. Black holes were powerful, yes, but if they were only micro black holes, they weren't very effective against high-end combatants. And stellar-mass black holes and above were just a foolish move of killing one thousand enemies at the cost of ten thousand of your own.
"That's why I don't play with black holes anymore. They're purely a power-level detector. Weak enemies get crushed by a black hole, but micro black holes are useless against powerful enemies.
Besides, compared to these Authorities... I still prefer to just slash them with a sword."
Ryn took out the Star Sword and tapped its blade with his hand, producing a crisp sound.
"How does that saying go? Oh right, 'All king's blood must end by the sword.'"
Tianqi reached out and snatched Ryn's sword, then, with a slight exertion of two fingers, easily broke it in two.
"Trash..."
Like throwing away garbage, Tianqi casually tossed the Star Sword aside, and then, before Ryn could react, she ran back into his body.
A moment later, a cry that echoed throughout the entire base came from Ryn's room.
"No—my Star Sword!! You died so tragically..."
(12/7, Happy Birthday Kiana~)