Dr. Primitive.
It was a little laughable that Dr. Primitive, an Emanator of Erudition, notorious across the cosmos, had actually become the symbol of life within this deep-sea domain.
This was the deepest part of the Quantum Sea.
A place where only deathly silence accompanied all.
Countless world-bubbles that had lost their vitality lay quietly beside each other, bleak and lifeless.
Suddenly, drifting with the current, Dr. Primitive slowly opened his eyes.
In an instant, the situation around him poured into his mind.
Silence. Emptiness. No idea how much time had passed before a soft chuckle broke the stillness.
Dr. Primitive showed none of the posture of a defeated man, if anything, he resembled a victor.
Even if the outside world believed Dr. Primitive was already dead…
In his own words, he was the victor, the one who had achieved ultimate triumph.
"The center of the Quantum Sea."
He lifted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping across this strange and mysterious domain.
After turning into a lifeform of the Quantum Sea, his connection with this sea became extraordinarily profound.
This connection allowed him to move through the Quantum Sea like a fish in water. In a sense, it could be said that he and the Quantum Sea coexisted as one being.
There was no actual exchange of benefits between the two, he simply coexisted with it like the oxpecker and the rhino.
As long as the Quantum Sea did not dry up, he would never die.
He could still make contact with the real world and interfere with it, though no longer as easily and freely as before. However, in terms of sheer power, he could now accomplish more than he ever could prior to his transformation.
He had grown in every aspect. Besides, he was Dr. Primitive. Notorious, feared, and burdened with infamy across the galaxy.
A dangerous individual personally but was also a member of the Genius Society.
His current situation was only temporary. He had abundant time, a brilliant mind, and eliminating all unfavorable factors would be a trivial task.
And this gave him ample opportunity to pull all these hopeless, darkened worlds back onto the right track, to realize the perfect world he envisioned.
A world with the primitive landscape, where reality was no longer singular and monotonous, but diverse, vibrant, and thriving in countless different directions!
Every person who stepped onto their destined path and walked far enough upon it possessed the belief to keep moving forward. On the road to fulfilling that belief, they could give everything.
Splash,
A sudden sound of flowing water appeared beside his ear.
It was not an actual physical sound, but a feeling transmitted directly to the mind.
Even without seeing or hearing it, the image surfaced clearly within his heart.
If it had been an ordinary current, it wouldn't have drawn Dr. Primitive's attention. But he was in the Quantum Sea, a domain born from imaginary energy itself.
This sensation reached directly into his mind, making it impossible to ignore.
"The sea is stirring." His brows furrowed.
Dr. Primitive could not imagine what sort of existence could disturb the Quantum Sea, a sea that had existed since the birth of the universe.
Could it be the Imaginary Tree? That was the only explanation.
The Imaginary Tree and the Quantum Sea had opposed each other for countless epochs.
Before Herta's writings on the Quantum Sea were published, the entire galaxy questioned the very existence of the Imaginary Tree.
Afterward, not only was the Tree's existence confirmed, but another special existence that stood on equal footing with it was revealed.
And the only thing that could cause the Quantum Sea to ripple… would be an existence on that same level, the Imaginary Tree.
A glimmer flashed in his eyes; Dr. Primitive had no intention of missing such an opportunity.
No scholar could remain indifferent toward these two existences.
Naturally, neither could he.
The Quantum Sea was boundless. Trying to locate the boundary where it confronted the Imaginary Tree by himself would be hopeless.
Yet now, such a golden opportunity lay before him, how could he possibly let it slip away?
At worst he would take another nap.
In the next second, Dr. Primitive began to split. The half-quantized portion of his body separated directly, and he projected his consciousness into the newly created temporary body, forming a link.
Both bodies remained connected.
This was his contingency plan. Whether it would prove useful or not… well, scientific progress was always accompanied by risks and experimentation. This was merely another simple test.
Following his instincts and the ripples spreading through the surrounding "sea," Dr. Primitive advanced in the direction of the disturbance.
Along the way were worlds that had lost all vitality. Surprisingly, when Dr. Primitive saw these worlds from up close, his expression grew strangely gentle.
Even a little sad. As expected, he truly was the one walking the correct path.
Dr. Primitive fell silent. If the cosmos continued down this wrong, potential-draining route, then this would inevitably be its final fate.
Unfortunately, only a few could understand his ideals. Most people cared only about small, immediate benefits, never considering where their future would lead.
Oh, he almost forgot. Short-lived species made up the majority of the universe; they could never perceive the grand picture.
Thinking about it that way, drifting through life in a muddled haze might be the most perfect outcome for them.
Dr. Primitive had always believed he possessed the virtues of a leader. Considering others, never confined by momentary loss or gain.
While these thoughts occupied a small corner of his mind, he had already descended into another region of the sea.
This part of the sea was similar to the previous ones, yet subtly different.
"No trace of quantum shadows." Looking at the pitch-black expanse, Dr. Primitive began to observe.
Even though he had only existed in this state for a short time, he understood the role of quantum shadows in the Quantum Sea.
They were the Quantum Sea's reflections of reality.
One could see the shadow of any existence from the real world within the Quantum Sea,
Even lifeless mechs. But in this region, there was not a single shadow.
This phenomenon resembled things seen in many worlds. The simplest comparison: when a domain had an absolute ruler, no one dared approach.
But this was the Quantum Sea. Quantum shadows only followed its rules to repel or eliminate intruders, they never fought each other.
Unless… there was an outsider.
His thoughts halted.
Dr. Primitive's instincts were warning him, warning him to leave immediately. The waves of the Quantum Sea began to surge violently, as if some colossal being was moving, sending a warning rippling outward through this vast sea.
Dr. Primitive's expression remained unchanged, his senses pushed to their limit.
He found nothing.
As though it had all been an illusion, a hallucination…
The object triggering the warning did not disappoint him. The increasingly heavy pressure weighed upon his shoulders. Even though he was now a quantized lifeform, he could still feel that crushing weight.
This shouldn't be possible. It couldn't be!
As long as he was within the Quantum Sea, as long as the Imaginary Tree itself wasn't attacking him, he should, in theory, have no opponents there.
Even if something surpassed him, he could evade it quickly.
But instead, he was now facing this pressure head-on, without any warning!
Suddenly, his pupils began to tremble. It was one of the few instincts he retained as a living being, a psychological reaction.
Abruptly, his pupils shrank as he stared straight ahead.
It was the same darkness he had first seen, the one he initially judged to be a massive empty region.
He had planned to investigate the area next. But now, that wouldn't be necessary.
That "world" was moving toward him! No, calling it a world was wrong. It was more like a towering wall, a vast, boundless wall!
Heavy, solid, featureless. Yet it carried a suffocating pressure.
It should have been a dead object, but it suddenly burst forth with overwhelming vitality, pressing down on his mind and senses.
Without hesitation, Dr. Primitive obeyed his instincts, abandoning half his body on the spot.
After all, as long as he could stretch out into the Quantum Sea, he could replenish it anytime.
In the very next second after he left,
"Boom!!"
A deafening explosion tore through the space, ripples of sound visible to the naked eye surging outward!
The half of his body he left behind was instantly crushed into the purest form of energy by that force.
Seeing this, Dr. Primitive felt no emotional fluctuation. His mind had already calculated that this outcome was the most probable.
For something to trigger his instincts so strongly, the danger had to be immense.
Suddenly, he noticed the "current" around him shifting.
Like encountering a black hole during cosmic travel, the pressure and curvature around him began swallowing all surrounding three-dimensional matter.
The black wall ahead was a black hole capable of devouring the "sea water" itself.
What was this thing? A unique creature of the Quantum Sea, or a special product sent by the Imaginary Tree?
Did the Quantum Sea ever send such "products" toward the Imaginary Tree?
Dr. Primitive was intrigued, but he understood what he needed to do, leave this place before the vortex closed in.
Dr. Primitive decisively swam against the current.
He sped rapidly in the opposite direction. This wasn't fleeing, just a strategic retreat.
He knew nothing about the mysterious wall. Rushing into it would most likely trap him, perhaps dragging him into some unknown depth.
He liked playing hide-and-seek with the Galaxy Rangers, enjoying that thrill of danger without true risk.
Because he enjoyed the process. But placing himself within a danger he understood nothing about? That was not part of the game.
With these thoughts in mind, he swam upward against the current. The currents around him slowed him slightly, but not dangerously.
"…Is that a sun? Two suns?" Suddenly, dazzling golden light appeared in his vision.
He faintly felt warmth spreading around him.
"Could it be the suns reflected from the outside world? Or another lost world?" Even with danger behind him, his curiosity didn't diminish.
Comparing directions, he increased his speed again. Along the path he calculated, this route was the fastest.
From every angle, it was the optimal choice, some small anomalies weren't enough to change his decision.
The difference was this: the black wall behind him radiated danger. The suns above did not.
Dr. Primitive had no reason to ignore such a discovery.
....
Behind him, the black wall was absorbing the "currents" at an increasing rate, its black hole-like effect surpassing all known black holes he had seen.
But perhaps this efficiency was normal within the Quantum Sea.
After all, this place contained countless worlds that had failed, its mysteries unknown to outsiders.
Miss Herta truly had done something remarkable this time.
After an unknown length of time, the two suns were almost "within reach," and the heat grew more intense.
For some reason, the black wall behind him stopped chasing. To leave himself time to react, Dr. Primitive slowed down.
Eventually, he halted at a distance, floating before the two suns.
Relying on his excellent vision and perception, he observed them closely.
Worlds with two or even multiple suns were not rare across the galaxy.
Creatures born on such worlds often possessed extraordinary abilities.
Humans were no exception, if they could survive and evolve.
Incidentally, Dr. Primitive had performed similar experiments, but those subjects were too fragile, dying off before they could evolve.
And he had already lowered the radiation to the most suitable levels.
A pity, truly a pity… Just as he lamented this internally, the heat of the suns suddenly increased, catching him off guard.
A slight rise in temperature was nothing to him, but he understood what such a reaction could mean.
Would a fallen lost world produce such an effect? Or could the projection of Quantum Shadows cause something similar? Dr. Primitive was curious.
Suddenly, he noticed the two suns moving, approaching him.
He blinked in mild surprise.
But he sensed no hostility from them. As a Genuis, he trusted his intuition.
It was precisely this intuition that let him toy with the Galaxy Rangers on many occasions, so he chose to remain and quietly observe the falling suns.
Strangely, the two suns descended at the exact same distance, with the exact same temperature.
Their warmth was gentle, like a heating lamp in a bathhouse. Comfortable on the eyes, and warming to the skin.
Instinctively, Dr. Primitive extended his hands, trying to touch them.
Suddenly, the suns went out. Darkness returned.
Before he could even be startled, a sensation, carrying obvious confusion, descended from above.
The next second, the suns lit up again.
Only now, because they were close, Dr. Primitive finally saw what they were.
A pair of golden vertical pupils, filled with confusion staring straight at him.