Few people truly know what the physical universe really looks like.
Even Natsume-san, who had gained peculiar perception after the soul fusion, had to admit that the physical universe she now perceived was ultimately a version 'seen' through layers upon layers of phase filters.
In other words, only by stripping away these innumerable, clinging phases could she truly understand the universe's original form.
But for Natsume-san right now, that was nearly impossible, about as likely as her suddenly becoming diligent and hardworking.
Unless one possessed the power to sweep all phases attached to the physical universe into the trash, the only option was to calculate all the variables these phases produced in real-time, then dutifully perform reverse calculations to reconstruct the universe's initial state within one's mind.
The power required for the former was something Natsume-san couldn't even conceptualize, while for the latter, even if someone used all the matter in the universe for the calculations, the universe would likely reach heat death before they finished.
Fortunately, all of this was meaningless to Natsume-san. She had no desire to expend energy becoming an explorer of the true reality.
It was just that these things happened to be right in front of her, forcing her to think about them.
The battle had been raging for quite some time.
The surrounding area was a complete wreck, littered with the shattered remains of unfortunate buildings. Someone's lonely rice cooker was wedged in a fissure three or four meters deep.
The only bit of luck was that the battleground between the two was a good hundred meters from the safe house building, and Accelerator was desperately trying to prevent Last Order from being caught in the crossfire, which incidentally also protected the Sisters inside the building.
Explosions, destruction, death, agony, wails...
Everything happening around her still grated on Natsume-san's nerves, keeping her thoughts stretched taut.
Her main body's opened eyes were now completely bloodshot, visible veins bulging around her temples and between her brows.
Even though she had offloaded much of the pain and pressure via thought transfer, it was anything but graceful, relentlessly taxing Natsume-san's health.
The heavy psychological pressure made a certain bun-haired girl dare not waste a single second. Even the injury to her main body's arm and the threat of Kihara Gensei became secondary.
Exploring her new capabilities right after the soul fusion had felt rushed and frantic, but in the end, it all seemed to fall into place naturally.
Taking a luxurious deep breath, she, now accompanied by her assistant, Reiko, focused her perception on the two most familiar phases.
The other phases were still there, but the girl had now learned to 'close her eyes' to them.
The simple act of closing one's eyelids was such a subtle yet genius design for protecting the eyes and brain. And now, Natsume-san's main body's brain was similarly protected.
This reminded her of the space elevator, still under review, where she had tapped into her past life's lingering power to perceive the microscopic level.
Back then, she hadn't just been ignorant of the microscopic world; she hadn't even been able to protect her own brain.
But now, within these two phases that felt intensely familiar to Natsume-san, she had discovered some truths she had been tirelessly seeking.
The truth of some matters might seem incredibly mysterious and profound to an outsider, but once you're in the thick of it, you find it's surprisingly simple.
Now, merely observing the phases from the outermost layer was no longer enough for Natsume-san.
As her perception 'looked' towards one of them, the familiar sensation it emitted made her feel it necessary to observe it carefully.
But contrary to Natsume Sonoko's expectations, her new perception, upon actively making contact, instead entered the chosen phase.
It seemed if she wished, she could observe the phase itself.
'So the reason I see the colony of phases superimposed on the physical universe, rather than the phases themselves, is simply because I never thought to observe them.'
'All along, my own perception limited my thinking. What I've been observing is always where my line of sight and body are—the physical universe itself. And its very form is this version, interfered with by countless phase filters.'
'Therefore, the essence granted by the soul fusion is the ability to observe what I want to see? Is this special ability originating from that Shrine Maiden?'
Natsume-san's thoughts spun a thousand times, plunging into waves of intense confusion and astonishment.
In just an instant, her perception had almost completely entered that phase.
Phases cannot be perceived by humans. Having been human for so many years, this was Natsume-san's first time observing such a special existence.
The very moment she perceived that phase, Natsume-san felt the tangible existence of space.
There is no concept of space between phases, but internally, they bear the traces of space.
Because they exist in an attached relationship, their size should be equivalent to the physical universe itself.
Therefore, nearly all phases should be identical in size, with the exception of some artificial phases not yet fully deployed and other, more special ones.
(A/N: This is my personal understanding, as I haven't delved into the minute details. But wouldn't artificial phases like Aleister's Artificial Heaven, being unnatural, only be about the size of Earth even when deployed? Perhaps they might become natural phases after esper abilities develop for some time?)
By the way, Natsume-san naturally couldn't observe the entirety of the universe or the phases.
So, the portion of phase-space she was observing now roughly corresponded to her own spatiotemporal coordinates within the universe.
Natsume-san had defined the specific range of her new perception based on her line of sight, similar to a moderately sized sector, preventing it from extending uncontrollably into unknown corners—that was far too dangerous.
Basically, if she wanted to, her new perception could continue expanding, eventually even encompassing the entire physical universe and its phases, though Natsume-san would likely have died from brain atrophy long before that.
Similarly, without increasing the strain, she could also move her perception, constantly changing the defined location, achieving an effect similar to movement.
It was like creating a cursor arrow on a computer screen and moving it around with the mouse, rather than filling the entire screen with the arrow.
'So this is the world of a phase. The familiarity vanished once I entered, replaced by a faint, almost imperceptible sense of rejection. But it's not rejecting me; I'm the one rejecting it.'
'In other words, I dislike it here. That's not quite right either. It's my past life that dislikes it here.'
Feeling a sense of inexplicable strangeness, Natsume-san knew this was a change brought by the soul fusion; she had inherited some of that Shrine Maiden's sensations.
Looking around, this phase was completely pitch black, at least Natsume-san couldn't perceive any existence of light here.
Natsume-san naively wondered if that Shrine Maiden was actually afraid of the dark, assuming she could also observe phases.
Fortunately, the concept of land existed here, making it easier for Natsume-san to accept.
Her current location seemed to be a mountain, with what looked like stone steps not far away.
But the next second, Natsume-san's heart leaped violently. Her real-world line of sight and her perception within the phase instantly fused. She could actually observe the physical universe again, from within the phase.
Previously, she had been observing the phase from the perspective of the physical universe. Now, inside the phase, she could observe the physical universe, and even other phases, from the phase's perspective.
And when Natsume Sonoko observed the universe through the phase, it was as if she had been equipped with the most precise observation instruments and all sorts of interference-removal equipment.
She could observe the physical universe in minute, excruciatingly clear detail.
From this viewpoint, the physical universe of the Railgun world had long been permeated to the extreme by phases, completely molded into their shape.
Natsume-san previously couldn't see through the phases from the physical universe's perspective, while the phases saw the physical universe laid completely bare. When observing other phases, she still only saw their most basic shells.
If her computational power was sufficient to support perceiving all of Academy City from here, it would basically be like having a god's-eye view.
And if she used her perception to observe the microscopic level of the physical universe, it would be like having a scanning tunneling microscope active at all times.
Natsume-san now completely understood why she had entered the microscopic level before.
The wooden bow forged by the Shrine Maiden had briefly awakened the essence of her soul, throwing her into a similar state.
But Natsume-san grew curious again.
She hadn't tried yet—what would happen if she directly observed the physical universe from the physical universe's own perspective?
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.