"????"
As they gazed upon the semi-transparent cube hovering in Luo Lin's hand, a uniform expression of bafflement adorned the faces of everyone present.
After a brief moment of chaos, Theresa managed to reboot her brain and began to analyze the situation anew.
"Hold on."
She lowered her hand from her bangs to support her head, "According to what you're saying, shouldn't this thing be in my grandfather's... in the parallel world grandfather's hands? How did it end up in yours?"
The eyes of the big white-haired loli gradually turned dangerous.
"I didn't harm Otto at all!" Luo Lin quickly waved her hand, "In fact, in a sense, I even saved his life! This should be considered the reward I received after saving him!"
Theresa didn't believe her at all, "Are you joking? What could endanger Grandfather?"
Luo Lin spread her hands, "The Imaginary Tree."
"What is that?!"
"Well, let me think... According to Bishop Otto's original words..."
Luo Lin changed her tone and imitated the bishop's leisurely voice, explaining.
"There is a giant tree, its tip cannot be seen, and its branches cover the sky. Under the tree is a vast sea, its depth cannot be measured, and its boundaries cannot be touched. Between heaven and earth, there is only one tree and one sea, so they began an endless struggle."
Bianca Durandal understood, "Is this the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta?!"
Luo Lin nodded and continued in the bishop's tone, "The sea constantly expands and accumulates, while the tree continues to grow roots. One side wants to submerge the other, while the other wants to absorb it. Under the sea's immersion, the tree has spent countless years, branching out into myriad forms and bearing its flowers and leaves..."
"It is in this endless process that, in a trivial corner, between a new sprout of leaves—human civilization, named, was born."
Theresa and Ragnar, familiar with Otto, exchanged a glance, as if seeing the figure of a certain golden-haired bishop talking eloquently on Luo Lin's body. Both shivered involuntarily.
"Imagine! The Imaginary is the starting point of humanity, the beginning of civilization, where time flows on the trunk of the Imaginary Tree, branching out like a crown, spawning infinite worlds... Each branch is a form of civilization. Each flower and leaf is the present and past they leave behind in the dimension of time."
"However, the development of the world requires constraints. In the competition with the Sea of Quanta, the direction of the growth of the branches is constantly subjected to a mechanism of selection and correction."
Luo Lin paused here and looked around, "A naturally formed mechanism, one derived from the Imaginary, one nurturing and nourishing, one baptizing and eliminating... For humanity, it is called the Catastrophe of Honkai."
The eyes of the people around instantly became solemn.
After all, Valkyries only need to fight against the various disasters caused by Honkai, and they basically don't need to understand the theory of Honkai.
Whether it was Theresa, Bianka, Ragnar, or Fu Hua, they all heard such an explanation for the first time.
"Yes, humanity can never escape Honkai."
The black-haired Valkyrie shrugged and continued, "Humanity can only move forward, because the Imaginary Tree must grow. Otherwise, we will eventually wither away like those failed worlds and become another bubble in the Sea of Quanta."
Bianca Durandal's reaction was even greater now, "Is the bishop talking about Bubble Worlds?!"
"Yes."
Luo Lin looked at Theresa, whose brain was overloaded, her eyes tending to turn in two different directions, almost becoming Theresa stupid.
The girl was shocked, so Luo Lin briefly returned to her own tone and explained, "Bubble Worlds appear in the Sea of Quanta, lasting for varying lengths of time, like illusions... So they are called Bubble Worlds."
Bianca Durandal nodded, "A few years ago, the bishop arranged for me to complete an experiment, using the Gnius device to observe a Bubble World in the Sea of Quanta... I didn't expect it to be a remnant of a world. No wonder that world felt so similar to ours, but also gave a sense of incompleteness."
Theresa muttered and gave up thinking, "Luo Lin, continue."
"...If humanity wants to achieve permanent peace, they must return to the starting point of civilization, back to the Imaginary. And the answers I seek must exist within the Imaginary Tree—"
Luo Lin ended the imitation show of Otto and returned to her own tone, "And then the bishop went to climb the Imaginary Tree... I accidentally helped him, and then I got the [Key of Revelation] as a reward."
Ragnar said in an admiring tone, "Bishop Otto is truly great! Thinking so much for the sake of human civilization!"
"Well, even if you say so."
The expression of the black-haired girl was somewhat subtle.
In fact, what Otto wanted most was to save Kallen. It's just that without the help of human civilization, he couldn't implement his plan, so he had to give a helping hand to human civilization...
The black-haired Valkyrie pushed the pseudo-Divine key with her hand, letting it float beside her, and then skillfully mobilized Honkai energy to condense a large spear with a faint golden glow, which was very familiar to everyone present—
Durandal exclaimed, "Abyss Flower!?"
"This is the mimicry function of the [Key of Revelation], it can even simulate other Divine Keys... but the effect is not as strong as the original—"
Luo Lin directly handed the pseudo-Divine key to the golden-haired knight, "I think, it should be enough for Durandal, who has already inherited the genuine [Key of Creation · Abyss Flower], to test the functionality of this pseudo-Divine key and prove that the [Key of Revelation] in my hand is not a counterfeit."
Bianca Durandal took the faint golden spear, feeling its weight, which was no different from the Abyss Flower. With a thought, she skillfully linked her consciousness to the pseudo-Divine key.
A few seconds later, Durandal successfully activated the mimicry function of the Abyss Flower, but she soon frowned—the efficiency of Honkai energy in the pseudo-Divine key was not high, giving her a somewhat sluggish feeling.
The golden-haired knight waved the spear, and the healing light sprinkled on everyone, bringing a warm and relaxed feeling to the Valkyries, as if soaking in a warm spring.
Then, Durandal tightened her grip on the spear handle, and the healing atmosphere on it suddenly reversed, turning the pseudo-Divine key into a devourer full of destruction.
She pondered for two seconds and came to a conclusion, "Luo Lin is right. Compared to the genuine product, it does have a significant gap. But it does indeed simulate the essence of the Abyss Flower... creation and destruction."
Ragnar took a breath, "So, does this mean that Luo Lin indeed has a Divine Key?"
"Yes."
Bianka handed the pseudo-Divine spear to Theresa, and, as a courtesy, the principal held the weapon, swinging it twice as if it were taller than her entire body.
—In fact, Theresa didn't know how to use the [Abyss Flower], she just confirmed the degree of simulation of this thing.
Fu Hua also reached out to touch it, but as Cecilias's good friend, she had also come into contact with the genuine [Abyss Flower], so she had some understanding of this pseudo-Divine key.
Fu Hua frowned and asked, "Only about thirty percent of the power of the original... With this level of simulation, even if Otto manages to create a mimicry [Feather Dust], he won't be able to modify Theresa's memories as I detected?"
"The [Key of Revelation] I have now is different from the version in Bishop Otto's hands, this one is severely damaged and not fully functional... I can only manually operate and select its functions."
Luo Lin sighed, "Can you understand that Bishop Otto's [Void Archive] is like a device filled with all kinds of auxiliary instruments, even with an AI terminal, while mine is a machine that can only run programs by coding it myself..."
Theresa grumbled, "Being damaged like this, no wonder he gave it to you. I thought my parallel world grandfather's mind was messed up... No, if all the Divine Keys are given out, then he should have really gone crazy!"
"Can't you say that he kindly supports the power of the parallel world to resist the Honkai?"
Fu Hua sighed, "Do you think what you said is possible? This is not at all like Otto's style..."
"Well." The corner of Luo Lin's mouth twitched—strictly speaking, Otto did not actively give a reward, but the "spirit" [Void Archive] sent itself to Luo Lin...
"Oh, I forgot to release Book of Fuxi."
She slapped her forehead and pulled the little ancestor out of the system space.
The Book of Fuxi sat on the soulium levitator, and rushed towards Hua directly, "Jingwei!!! I miss you so much!! Wuu wuu wuu..."
Former Captain Ragnar thought she could take a break for a while, just took a sip of water, and then almost spit it out, "Wait a minute? What's going on? Jingwei?!"
"Cough..."
Fu Hua caught the armed puppet with a little embarrassment, "Sorry, I may have forgotten many things..."
The Book of Fuxi patted its chest, "It's okay, let's start over! This time I have plenty of time!"
Ragnar rubbed her ears, looked around, and felt out of place.
—Everyone's involved in something weird, why aren't I as well?