Chapter 386

After saying that, Ai Yue added, "Don't try to guess what I'm thinking; just look at it from your own perspective."

Of the people present, apart from Himeko, they were all shrewd and calculating. Even Robin wasn't as naive as she seemed. If that comment hadn't been added, this place would probably have turned into a flattery contest.

"I believe that, at least within the scope of Penacony, it is necessary to have such a rule," Old Odie said without much hesitation. "Only with such a rule can everyone enjoy the dream without worry. Perhaps the rule of not dying will cause some side effects, but those can be controlled in other ways."

Clearly, for the elder Odie, his business is still very important. If he loses his most secure insurance, Penacony will likely face a terrible loss of customers.

"I think some modifications might be possible, but if possible, people should still be given some protection," the Robin said thoughtfully. "The reason dreams are so attractive is because they exist differently from reality and can achieve things that are impossible in reality. Under such circumstances, if the rules were completely consistent with reality, then they would be meaningless."

"You're both right. I also think there should be some restrictions on death in dreams, but that doesn't mean we should completely eliminate it," Jade said with a smile. "In the future, countless forces will participate in the development of new dreams, and this situation will inevitably lead to clashes and disputes between various forces. If there is no threat of death at all, then the clashes between forces will probably reach an unprecedented intensity."

"As long as it's not achieved by harming ordinary people, I think these rules should be maintained," Himeko said, sharing her thoughts. "Life is already tiring enough; if it's just for relaxation, then being a little crazy doesn't seem so bad, right?"

"Okay, I understand the situation." Ai Yue nodded, but didn't express his opinion. "Regarding the rules of dreams, I think it's probably not just this one rule; many others need to be revised and supplemented, so..."

He paused for a moment, then gave a mysterious smile, "After considering all factors, I've found you an expert."

Chapter 85 Why not abandon darkness for light?

Some time later, during Penacony's "Golden Hour".

The "Great One's Dream," which once affected the entire Penacony and even shook the Asdener Star System, has completely disappeared. Looking at the still bustling and prosperous scene here, it is clear that the crisis did not really leave any trace. Perhaps people are always like this; even if they personally suffer a disaster, they will easily forget it and become immersed in joy again.

However, it wouldn't be entirely accurate to say that this place remains completely unchanged from before.

What's that in the distance?

High in the sky, the luxurious airship, the Huichangshi—no, after being given to the nameless guests and renamed the "Tail of Trailblaze"—was cruising through the air as always. The two most distinguished guests in the entire dream stood on the quiet and spacious stern deck, overlooking the entire "Golden Hour."

The question just now came from one of the guests, who pointed to the distant edge of the dream as she spoke.

She was a simply and conservatively dressed nun. Although she hadn't opened her eyes, it was clear from her question that she could still "see" everything in the dream. If an experienced dream architect witnessed this, they would realize just how outrageous this nun's control over dreams was.

In fact, it is not difficult to observe dreams without sight. As long as a person's will is strong enough, it is not difficult to not only observe, but also to interfere with dreams on a small scale. As for dream architects, the extent to which they can change dreams is the extent to which they can observe through consciousness.

If this rule also applies to this nun, wouldn't that mean that almost the entire "Golden Dawn" is within the other party's control?

The truth is far more exaggerated than this possibility, because the nun was none other than Aponia, who had been brought to Penacony by Ai Yue.

Even when she was still human, Aponia's mental power was strong enough to interfere with the behavior and consciousness of others through language. After becoming Fused Warrior, her mental power became even stronger, able to span the entire Earth to bind and suppress two other powerful mental users.

Now, having received the blessing of the Power of Light and resonating with it, Aponia's strength has reached an unbelievable level. Even Ai Yue, without fully unleashing his own power, cannot fathom Aponia's true strength.

It can be said that, in terms of spiritual cultivation alone, Aponia has even surpassed Ai Yue, forging a path entirely of her own.

"They're expanding over there. Old Odie is very ambitious. What he wants now is a complete Dream Planet, making this place a truly complete world." Ai Yue smiled, not bothering to expose the fact that Aponia herself could see through this. "Simply put, he wants to transform the sandbox game into an open world."

"That sounds like a huge undertaking," Aponia said with a laugh. "Do they need my help?"

"Then all the dream architects will be out of a job." Ai Yue laughed, then shook his head. "Let them handle these things themselves. I didn't hire you to be my babysitter."

"I know." Aponia opened her eyes. "So, have you thought about what you're planning to do?"

"I didn't plan to." Ai Yue shrugged and said decisively, "I intend to entrust this matter entirely to you. Once you fully understand this dream world and people's yearning for new dreams, you will naturally devise a perfect solution."

"I see, I understand now." Aponia looked at Ai Yue with a subtle gaze. "When you said you wouldn't let me be a nanny, you actually meant you wouldn't let me be someone else's nanny, right?"

The implication of those words was so obvious that Ai Yue couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed—clearly, his hands-off approach was inappropriate for Aponia, who was new to the area.

"Ahem, you can't say that." After a moment of awkwardness, Ai Yue quickly regained his composure. "I just didn't want my ideas to interfere with your design. The rules of a mere dream are definitely not difficult for you."

"Don't say things like that in front of me, okay?" Aponia looked at Ai Yue meaningfully. Knowing Ai Yue as she did, she knew perfectly well that these words were just to fool him. "But thank you anyway."

Aponia was well aware of why Ai Yue insisted on entrusting this matter entirely to her.

Because from a very early stage, the things she led have always gone against her true expectations.

Of course, this was not something Aponia came up with on her own. Due to Ai Yue's intentional or unintentional interference, Aponia had almost never made any decisions as the leader. Among the few decisions she made was allowing the monastery to treat patients infected with Honkai Sickness.

The series of chain reactions that followed this event remain vivid in Aponia's memory to this day, and the traces she left in the original timeline that she learned from Kiana further confirmed this fact for the nun.

Like a cruel joke of fate, the more she tried to avoid tragedy, the more she ended up creating tragedies that harmed even more people.

Even now, even though Aponia is now countless times stronger than she was when fate cruelly toyed with her, that shadow still lingers.

She continues to do what she was once good at, like every clergy member: listening to troubles, comforting people, and offering advice, never overstepping her bounds to actually make any decisions.

But now, Ai Yue has extended an invitation to her.

"You don't look like you're going to say thank you." Ai Yue didn't think he could hide his little thoughts from someone he spent so much time with, so he made no attempt to conceal them. "Is there anything else you're worried about?"

"If this is considered a first attempt, isn't its scale a bit too enormous?" Aponia's tone revealed a hint of worry. "A galaxy-scale dream, which will carry the consciousness of trillions, or even more, people in the future, is it really okay to lead such a project on the very first attempt?"

"Of course, no problem. This is actually a very small stage." Ai Yue looked at Aponia and said firmly, "According to the rules of destiny, you are my messenger. You need to have some confidence in yourself."

For beings at the level of Commanders, a galaxy-sized space can indeed be described as small—the "Philosophical Fetus" summoned by Sunday using the power of the star core is far smaller than that of a Commander, but the "Great One's Dream" it releases can completely cover the Asdener Star System. From this alone, one can glimpse the tip of the iceberg of the Commander's power.

As for Aponia, even though she has never truly exerted her full power since receiving the blessing, according to Ai Yue's current estimation, she could easily crush a courier like Phantylia.

While the fact that Phantylia was countered by Aponia played a part in this, it also demonstrated just how powerful Aponia was. Therefore, in Ai Yue's view, a mere galaxy-level dream was the perfect test for the other side.

Even if Aponia really messes up, there's still him, isn't there?

"In that case, it seems there's no way to keep refusing." Aponia sighed slightly, then smiled faintly. "Leave it to me—but I need to observe for a few more days."

Although Aponia had only been in Penacony for a short time, she had already figured out the entire structure of the dream world, even the Flowing Dream Reef hidden from the sight of ordinary people. However, she knew very well that the dream world was not the object that the rules were responsible for. What truly needed the rules to constrain and protect were the people who were active in the dream world.

Only by determining exactly what can happen in dreams can we design targeted rules to better maintain the dream environment.

Although she still harbored some hesitation, since she had already agreed, Aponia quickly got into the zone. She closed her eyes, and her invisible mental energy spread in all directions, revealing in detail all the consciousness that existed in the dream within her "vision."

Seeing that Aponia was already engaged in her work, Ai Yue decided not to disturb her any further. Since he had already handed over the reins of the matter to her, he should naturally avoid interfering as much as possible until things deteriorated to the point where he had to step in to salvage the situation.

Judging by the time, it seems it should be starting on the other side as well.

After confirming that Aponia was alright, Ai Yue's figure gradually disappeared from the "Golden Hour" and appeared in another dream.

Flowing Dream Reef.

At this moment, after finishing the Grand Gala of Harmony and a series of tedious matters, the nameless guests have finally completed all their missions. It is precisely for this reason that they return to Flowing Dream Reef to pay tribute to the predecessors who walked the path of pioneering.

At such a solemn moment, even the usually unreliable Hoshino put aside her quirky demeanor and stood obediently behind Himeko, bowing her head to pay her respects to her seniors.

Ai Yue did not choose to get closer, partly because he had not truly participated in this rescue and inheritance process. Since he had chosen to be an observer, he should see it through to the end.

On the other hand, it's also because there are people waiting for him in this place.

As Ai Yue stood at a distance gazing at Himeko and the others, he naturally also took in the sight of the woman standing not far away, holding a sword longer than a person.

The Sea-faring Ranger, Acheron —of course, now that things have come to this, he should be called the "Void Envoy," Acheron.

Although she was not chosen by the Aeon of Nihility as his messenger, but rather a self-destructive being cursed by the Void, she had gone far enough down this path that, in the process of constantly resisting her own destiny, she gained power from the Void's fate that was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

But behind all this, how much unimaginable pain and sorrow is hidden?

"You've come."

When Ai Yue approached the other person, the other person showed no surprise or astonishment at the arrival of a stranger. Instead, the other person spoke calmly, as if meeting an old friend. "Whenever they encounter a crisis, I always think you will appear, but now it seems you are more composed than I imagined."

"Because I believe they can do it," Ai Yue said shamelessly, as if it was someone else who had almost torn the dream apart and intended to use a deus ex machina. "It's not about language, it's about my trust in them."

"Really? That's truly enviable." Acheron finally looked up at Ai Yue, her tone filled with complex emotions. "But thankfully, at least I didn't miss out on you because of that."

Doesn't this statement sound a little ambiguous?

Ai Yue was about to say something when he suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Because he saw something familiar yet strange in the eyes of the Acheron.

It was a dazzling light that illuminated the somewhat gloomy sky as it streaked across the heavens— Acheron somehow managed to imprint the "Radiant Flow" onto his body!

No, rather than saying she retained the Radiant Flow, it's more accurate to say that the light was so dazzling that it left its mark on Acheron's body...

Although Ai Yue had long known that the Radiant Flow had inexplicably traversed timelines and thus appeared in the universe at various points in time, being seen by people from different times, this was still the first time he had truly witnessed this light born from him—albeit in the eyes of others.

"It seems my intuition was correct," Acheron spoke again, and the light once more disappeared from her eyes. "Thank you for creating that light; it... helped me a great deal."

"That's the result of your own hard work." Ai Yue didn't press Acheron about exactly what Radiant Flow had helped him with, as that would be tantamount to reopening old wounds. So he simply nodded and moved on from the topic. "I know your situation, so I won't beat around the bush—"

As he spoke, Ai Yue's body shone with a light identical to the Radiant Flow, displaying his power before Acheron: "Need help? Perhaps I can help you break free from the curse of nothingness."

Although Acheron is now able to maintain her own identity and has even gained the power of an Envoy, this does not mean that she can resist the curse of nothingness. As she goes further and further down this path of destiny, her future fate is almost predictable.

One day, she will be completely swallowed up by the curse of self-destruction, completely transformed into nothingness, and disappear from this world.

Therefore, abandoning darkness and embracing light became the best option for the other party.

Chapter 86 My house is very big, you're welcome to come and visit.

Faced with Ai Yue's invitation, Acheron's face showed obvious hesitation.

But after a moment, she unexpectedly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Ai Yue, I think I must refuse you—walking on the path of nothingness is indeed not my intention, but now, I also have a reason why I cannot leave."

Upon hearing this, Ai Yue raised an eyebrow. Although it was indeed somewhat embarrassing to be rejected outright after making a confident invitation, he was more concerned with something else than those vague notions of saving face. "May I ask for the reason?"

No, Acheron already knew the reason before he came to this world, but just as the other party did not value the answer when asking the question, but rather the thoughts of the person answering, Ai Yue was not really asking for the reason, but rather confirming the other party's will.

"Among the nameless souls slumbering over there, there is one named 'Tirnan'." Acheron didn't answer the question directly, but instead looked at the tombstone not far away. "He was a legend, and his extraordinary life was dazzling even in the vast starry sky."

Ai Yue also turned his gaze over. The nameless guests had finished commemorating the three predecessors and were walking towards the higher observation deck. In front of the tombstone, only bouquets and wine remained, silently telling passersby that they had not been forgotten.

Tirnan was one of them. As a sharpshooter, he once traveled through the starry sky on the Stellar Train as a bodyguard. Later, he followed Mikhail off the train and stayed in Penacony to participate in the planetary war of independence. Finally, he disappeared after being attacked by the Zerg while opening up the Silver Rail.

But this was not the end of his life; rather, it was the beginning of another glorious chapter. After being attacked by insects, Tirnan was eventually rescued by the Sea-faring Ranger and joined them in the battle that made the Sea-faring Ranger famous: the campaign against the "Great Extinguisher."

But after that...

"Such a legend, yet he was ultimately swallowed by the shadow of IX, becoming a lost wanderer in the void." Acheron turned his gaze back to Ai Yue. "Fortunately, this is not the end of the story—I finally awakened his consciousness at the shore of the Dead Sea and sent him away from the void, back to the world of 'existence'."

"I am... the guardian of the Acheron." After a moment of silence, the Acheron spoke again, "My mission is to guard the path to the abyss of 'nothingness,' and to guide every life that does not wish to fall into it back to the world of 'existence.'"

"I see. If you break free from the curse of nothingness and leave this path, you will no longer be able to fulfill this mission," Ai Yue nodded. "Even if no one asks you to do so?"

"Even if no one asked me to do this." Acheron repeated Ai Yue's question with certainty, then hesitated for a moment, as if finally mustering her courage, and asked again, "In your eyes, isn't my behavior... quite ridiculous?"

Ai Yue looked into her eyes, slightly surprised, but he quickly realized what was going on and then smiled slightly.

When he first heard this question, he subconsciously thought that Acheron was seeking recognition—if a being equal to the Star God recognized her actions, it might bring some comfort to her long and lonely life.

But Ai Yue quickly realized that things weren't like that at all.

As someone who has traveled such a long distance on the path of "nothingness" to the point of obtaining the power of an Envoy, Acheron's mind has become so firm that it is unimaginable to ordinary people. Such a person has long since reached the state of self-sufficiency and does not need external affirmation to support his beliefs.

In other words, whether Ai Yue says something affirmative or negative here, it won't have any effect on Acheron —and the other party really just wants an answer from Ai Yue.

She wanted to know how someone as powerful as a star god viewed her.

"I'm not a star god, and I don't know what a star god would think." Realizing this, Ai Yue smiled. "But if you ask for my opinion, then this is my answer."

As he spoke, he reached out and patted Acheron's head, like a kind elder comforting his own child.

Ai Yue's movements were not fast, so Acheron had enough time to react. But she did nothing. Instead, she subconsciously lowered her head to feel the slight warmth from the other's palm.

It's as if at this very moment, she isn't the Void Envoy who can shatter the Great One's Dream with a single strike, but rather a wronged little girl.

But Acheron quickly raised his head, a hint of surprise in his eyes, because what came from the other's palm was not only warmth, but also a surging power like a tsunami.

The sweeping force was so powerful that the power she originally controlled seemed extremely weak and on the verge of collapse. However, this unfamiliar power did not change anything. Instead, under its master's control, it transformed into a solid barrier, protecting her last remaining "red" color.

"You..." Acheron's voice was tinged with confusion as he looked at Ai Yue, who had just withdrawn his hand. "I just rejected you..."

Acheron was naturally confused, because she could clearly recognize the value of this power—despite being regarded as a messenger of nothingness, the power that Ai Yue had given her far exceeded the proportion of the fate of nothingness in her life, to the point that even the curse of the self-destruction seemed somewhat ridiculous in the face of this power.

As long as this power is not completely consumed by the void, she will never have to worry about being assimilated by the void due to the curse of self-destruction. In terms of the sheer size of this power, she is practically granted infinite life.

"So I respect your opinion, but that doesn't mean I'll do nothing." Ai Yue shrugged, looking at the somewhat bewildered Acheron. "Just like even if someone said your mission was absurd and meaningless, you wouldn't abandon it."

She herself is deeply trapped in nothingness, yet she tries to ferry people out of it. This act is significant to those being ferryed, but utterly worthless to the ferryman—because she gains nothing from it, and even those she ferryes will not remember her existence.

Even so, Acheron still chose this path, to the point that he rejected the only possibility of being saved for something so worthless.

Perhaps for a moment, even she herself felt that this choice was ridiculous, which is why she posed that question to Ai Yue just now.

Unexpectedly, I received such a warm and firm response.

"Thank you." Acheron opened his mouth, as if he had a lot to say, but in the end, he could only utter the simplest words, "Really, thank you."

"You deserve this." Ai Yue merely shook his head slightly, then seemed to remember something, "I almost forgot, what are your plans for the future?"

"Not yet." Acheron thought for a moment, then gave a somewhat subtle smile. "Or rather, people like me generally don't have any clear goals."

"In that case, why don't we find a place to relax?" Ai Yue extended his hand to her again. "I know a place that you might really like."

Acheron looked at the outstretched hand and this time did not refuse. "Thank you, I am honored."

"Hey, Brother Yue, when did you get here?"

Just then, March 7th surprised voice came from not far away. The two looked over at the same time and saw that the nameless guests had come down from the observation deck and were looking this way.