"Sigh! It seems exploiting a loophole won't work."
Caelus looked at the Dream Bubble in his hand and shook his head helplessly. He had tried using the Dream Bubble he purchased from Dr. Edward to see whether he could dream, only to discover that he could not create a dream within a dream at all.
He had even wanted to leave Penacony's current dream and use an external Dreampool to create a separate one, but the System bluntly told him, ["You didn't enter this place through a Dreampool in the first place."
"A Dreampool cannot make an existence like you enter a dream. Although your identity settings claim otherwise, the truth is that you entered this dream directly with your physical body. After all, you cannot be considered a normal life-form. That device cannot make you dream. Even though it can allow a sentient machine to dream, it still wouldn't work on you."]
"What a pity. In those immortal fantasy novels, people sometimes dream for three thousand years... I don't need that long. I only need to experience a few things in a dream and witness enough people and events. Perhaps that would accelerate my growth somewhat."
["Hey, now that you mention it, given your situation, dreams might actually be able to accelerate your growth. However, ordinary dreams would have no effect on you. For it to work, you would need to use the Path of Dreams, which belongs to the greater path of illusion."]
"Is that the reward I would receive if I chose the side of the beautiful dream?"
["Yes, but haven't you already decided to choose reality?"]
"When did I say that I had decided to choose reality?"
["Eh?! Didn't you say that an eternal, beautiful dream was like a birdcage, imprisoning birds that wanted to spread their wings and fly? Doesn't that mean you intend to shatter the eternal dream?"]
"Didn't I already explain? Whether they choose to spend each ordinary day inside a comfortable cage or break free and face the trials of the outside world, that is a choice the birds themselves must make."
"Judging by the situation in this world and the nature of this mission, someone in Penacony intends to create an eternal dream and make everyone sink into it. With the arrival of the Astral Express, those Trailblazers certainly won't be willing to remain trapped in a false dream. They will inevitably awaken and fight the mastermind."
"But in truth, the conflict between the two sides is fundamentally a clash of ideals. Neither side has ever asked those ordinary people what they want, nor do they care about their wishes. The mastermind wants everyone to become addicted to the beautiful dream, while the Trailblazers intend to break through the dream and put an end to the mastermind's scheme. In reality, both sides are placing their own will above everyone else's and forcing those people into a choice. Neither side ever intended to ask whether they wished to awaken or remain asleep."
"What I want to do is give people the right to choose, allowing them to decide freely whether to face cruel reality or sleep peacefully. Everyone should have the right to make that choice for themselves."
["You aren't planning to choose both, are you?"]
"That's right. For this mission, I will choose both. I will side with neither the dream nor the Trailblazers. I will become an independent third party. I will weave a domain where everyone can experience a dream based on their past memories. Within that dream, each person will become the protagonist of their own story and live the life they desire most, the life that satisfies them completely. Eventually, everything they are will be absorbed by that dream world and become nourishment for it."
"But all of this will be made public. I will openly explain the truth to everyone who wishes to enter this dream. Before they fall into a deep sleep, I will warn them again and again, and allow them to witness within the dream what might happen after their death."
"If they still persist, they will enter the second layer of the dream. There, I will show them the beauty of their past and everything precious they once lost, attempting to awaken their courage so they can pull themselves together and face reality."
"If they still feel no regret under those circumstances and remain willing to enter the dream, then it will prove that they no longer wish to face cruel reality and only want to escape. In that case, I will respect their choice and allow them to sink completely into the dream. Likewise, once this dream accumulates enough power, it will also become nourishment for my growth. It will accomplish several goals at once."
The System remained silent for a long time. During that silence, it seemed to make specific adjustments to the mission system before saying, ["Well, I've adjusted the mission. Originally, this might not have worked, but under the current loophole, it is indeed possible to modify it. If you ultimately achieve this ending, I can grant you the rewards for both choices at the same time."]
"All right. Thanks for the help."
["Hey, we're partners! There's no need to thank me. But you need to think this through. If you want to create an eternal dream within your own domain, then given your current abilities, you will probably need to wait until the other party establishes the framework of their eternal dream before copying and taking control of it. Once the Astral Express crew defeats the mastermind, that will be your moment to step onto the stage and formally confront them. You may even have to fight the Aeons hiding behind the scenes. Are you truly prepared for that?"]
Caelus silently took out a reward from a previous mission that he had stored away. He had never used it, having waited for the proper moment.
Before long, that moment would arrive.
["Damn! You still have that? I almost forgot about it. Then there really shouldn't be a problem."]
"Hmm."
After responding to the System, Caelus prepared to begin planting nodes throughout Penacony's dream. Once the coming changes took place, those nodes could scan and analyze the dream, allowing him to replicate and seize control of that eternal, beautiful dream.
It was truly a fortunate coincidence. In another world, if this eternal dream had been created through some other method, such as the Path of Dreams or a special form of spiritual power, Caelus could not be certain that he would be able to forge an equivalent eternal dream.
But in this universe, the foundation of dreams was memoria, which filled the entire star system.
And in that regard, Caelus possessed several useful methods.
"Cyrene, let's work hard together from now on."
"Leave it to me, Partner! I'll work very hard to help you!"
Cyrene suddenly appeared behind Caelus, wrapped her arms around him, and spoke with a smile as she pressed her cheek against his.
"Partner, where should we plant the first nodes?"
"Let's begin at Dreamflux Reef. The memoria there has not yet stabilized, and the entire area remains relatively chaotic. Starting there will make it easier to reach the deeper layers of the dream."
Caelus carried Cyrene and took a few steps before disappearing from the street without attracting anyone's attention, including the purple bird perched on the rooftop, overlooking the countless pedestrians below.
(To be continued.)