"...The deeper one ventures into the Boundless Ocean, the more one feels as though sinking into a fog—even though in reality there is no fog at all..."
"...The sunlight filtering down from the sky is pale and dim, lending everything a hazy, dreamlike quality, as if one has entered another world entirely, cut off from everything beyond..."
"...One attempts to retrace one's steps to find the origin of this anomaly, but no matter how one tries, it remains elusive. It seems to be a subtle, gradual process—a shift from quantitative change to qualitative transformation—impossible to pinpoint with any precision..."
"...No matter how one navigates by the sun, the stars, or the surrounding environment, one always ends up circling back to some place one has passed before. This is fundamentally different from flight from the ground into outer space..."
Within the Atomic Universe, Lucian studied the documents in his hands with focused intensity. These were the accumulated experiences of generations of mages exploring the depths of the Boundless Ocean—a precious repository of knowledge, much like the attempts made by legendary mages and archmagi to fly from the ground into orbit rather than relying on spatial teleportation.
According to their accounts, beyond a certain altitude, the sky gave the same sensation of being lost in a fog as the depths of the Boundless Ocean. And because of the atmosphere itself, this feeling was even more confounding—simultaneously real and illusory, difficult to discern. As a result, flying from the ground to a predetermined orbit was far more difficult than it should have been. Even legendary mages preferred spatial teleportation. But regardless, such flight would never cause one to spin in circles—as long as one navigated by the stars, one would always break through.
However, equally, due to limitations both external and internal, Douglas and the other legendary mages had not yet been able to quantitatively define the threshold of this phenomenon. They could not determine at what exact altitude observation of the ground became completely shrouded in "fog," and naturally, they had no way to study the mysteries within.
After the unsuccessful "Chasing the Sun" expedition, Douglas had shifted his focus to this problem, racking his brains for a way to pinpoint the threshold. His thoughts had turned toward alchemical constructs possessing artificial intelligence—anything that could eliminate subjective interference—and he had been quite supportive of Hetty and her team's research for this reason.
Natasha strode in, clad in full silver-grey plate armor with the Sword of Truth in hand, her spirit soaring. "When do we depart?" she asked.
The expansion of Luntart was well underway now, and the knight's blood in her veins was boiling, crying out for battle. If Lucian hadn't planned this expedition, she would have gone alone to explore the abyssal rifts in the Strup Forest—rampaging chaos demons made for ideal combat targets, since they lost their fear of death in their frenzy. The Crimson Plains had already been claimed by a demon lord from another layer of the abyss.
Moreover, for this exploration of the depths of the Boundless Ocean, Lucian truly did need a companion—someone to allow him to focus entirely on experiments, data recording, and environmental investigation. Besides, sometimes an epic knight's intuitive perception proved more useful than a legendary mage's, especially when detecting subtle changes in the body.
Lucian set down his documents with a smile. "It sounds like you're the one who's always been too busy, not me. I'm ready to depart at any time."
It was now the end of April in the year 828. Lucian had been waiting for Natasha to wrap up her current affairs and had already gone through the material on the depths of the Boundless Ocean several times over.
Natasha gave two dry laughs and declared with lofty righteousness, "As a queen, how could I simply up and leave on a whim? And it just so happened to coincide with the most troublesome phase of Luntart's expansion—hence the delay."
Without waiting for Lucian's reply, she swept her hand forward in a grand, heroic gesture. "Let's go!"
Lucian shook his head with a smile, watching her take long, swift strides with her back held ramrod straight.
…………
The sky was a flawless, crystalline pale blue. The sea was a deep, churning, somber navy. In every direction stretched an endless, boundless expanse—nothing but blue as far as the eye could see.
The wind blew in fitful, unpredictable gusts, its presence betrayed only by the rolling surface of the waves. Suddenly, within the invisible current, two figures slowly took shape. One wore a black double-breasted frock coat and a matching top hat, a silver-white pocket watch in hand, as though checking the time for a "banquet." The other was a beautiful woman with long purple hair streaming in the wind, her silver-grey armor lending her an additional air of cool severity.
"We're still some distance from the depths of the Boundless Ocean. Let's fly there slowly," Lucian said, glancing up at the position of the sun. His eyes were deep and fathomless, reflecting what seemed to be countless points of starlight hidden behind the glare.
Natasha understood his reasoning. If they were truly going to explore the secrets of the Boundless Ocean's depths, they couldn't simply teleport to the vicinity—who was to say they wouldn't overshoot the point where the anomalies had already begun to manifest? The best approach was to approach gradually from a distance.
Before she could nod, Lucian added another caution. "Remember to monitor the changes in your body. Don't overlook even the slightest abnormal shift."
"Mm." She nodded lightly, a smile blossoming across her face—like a cat that had stolen a fish. "To think I can be of use in one of your important experiments. I'm simply... so... flattered..."
The idiom "flattered" had been converted by Lucian into Common Language, but to express it accurately, the sentence structure had become rather convoluted and its length staggering. Natasha, who had only heard it once before, found repeating it to be a tongue-twisting ordeal.
Hearing her response, Lucian burst out laughing. It seemed she still hadn't let go of her reputation as his "laboratory destroyer."
"Well, this certainly isn't a laboratory," Lucian said. He never missed an opportunity to tease Natasha.
Natasha cast him a half-smiling, half-threatening glance. "Careful, or I might stop cooperating with your 'experiments' in the future. After all, I am the experiment destroyer."
Lucian cleared his throat, wondering just when these "experiments" of his would ever succeed.
The two of them flew slowly over the sea, drawing puzzled upward gazes from every sea creature that swam past. How could anyone fly even slower than they could swim?