Society stabilized with astonishing speed.
Within a few short days, the world's various nations didn't even have a chance to report on it.
Academy City had no intention of using androids to replace the media's talking heads anyway. The traditional media would soon give way to the Stigma-based information exchange system. Let them shout all they wanted; no newspaper or online outlet could affect the internal stability of Academy City. The days when Academy City was a ragtag operation were long gone.
"So, all we have to do is make all of humanity fall asleep? That's simple enough, but what about people who are driving or doing other dangerous work? Are we just going to make them stop suddenly and die?"
"For example, the employees monitoring power plants. We can't just have them collapse on the job and let an accident cause a nuclear meltdown, can we?"
Forcibly pulling all of humanity into a dream was certainly possible. Noldrei himself could manipulate various electrical frequencies to interfere with the human brain, inducing brainwave activity characterized by alpha waves and sleep spindles. In doing so, Noldrei could make everyone fall asleep.
This was a simple task for Noldrei. The Herrscher of Thunder could do it, the Herrscher of the Void could do it, the Herrscher of Reason could do it, and the Herrscher of Sentience could do it too...
Wait, why does it feel like a lot of Herrschers can do this?
Kiana was no longer the same girl who had run away before graduating. She understood very well the implications behind Noldrei's use of the word "simple."
She explained to Noldrei, "Maybe we don't have to put everyone to sleep. I mean, I'm not sure if half of humanity would be enough to draw out the Cocoon. As far as I know, there weren't many people left when Finality appeared along with the Cocoon in the Previous Era."
"From what I know, that's what it was like when Finality appeared in the Previous Era."
Elysia confirmed Kiana's speculation. This information was no longer a secret among the upper echelons of Academy City.
She was more concerned about the little one in her hands. It currently looked nothing like a 'person' at all and had even begun to learn human speech just by listening to their conversation. Its learning ability was already beyond Elysia's imagination.
The Previous Era's Herrscher, Ely, didn't have this kind of learning ability when she was born. Elysia suspected that before she was even ready to be a teacher, this little one would have already learned everything it needed to know.
The Herrscher Core structure that I worked so hard to preserve has been transformed into this...
Elysia was a little troubled now.
She had transformed the Herrscher Core's structure from an atomic-material one to a molecular-organic one, like turning carbon into a hydrocarbon. It was precisely because of this that the Herrschers of the current era appeared in such a unique way.
"There's no need to put all of humanity to sleep. We can just proceed as normal. The sleep provided by this portion of humanity will be enough for us to infiltrate the Cocoon. It can't escape my search. As long as genetic information is bound to consciousness, people cannot escape the prison of their own creation."
After receiving Noldrei's confirmation, Kiana was relieved.
Noldrei thought carefully about the intelligence Kevin had provided and found something a bit strange.
"In that case, isn't the shared Stigma Space just the Stigma battlesuits we've been promoting all along? Why haven't Kiana and I seen the Cocoon inside it?"
Noldrei's question stumped Kiana. She was also familiar with Stigma battlesuits, the Stigma Space, Stigma dreams, and Stigma consciousness.
"Are you saying that humans are, in fact, unable to control their own dreams? And that the reason the Previous Era's Project Stigma could create Stigma dreams and fulfill people's wishes was because of a centralized, controlling presence?"
Elysia immediately realized the flaw in the Previous Era's Project Stigma.
A person's own consciousness isn't clearly aware of its own needs; this is something that plays out countless times in reality. If the self lacks this precise awareness, it means there must be an external power within the Stigma dream that can separate the subject from the object. This power is the true foundation upon which the flow of wishes within the Stigma Space operates.
Noldrei stated with certainty, "It's somewhat similar to the idea of a mental utopia. But without a cruel real society to contrast it with, humanity cannot create a so-called utopian social fantasy. The essence of a utopia isn't the next stage of society, but the inverse of the current reality. A utopia is, in essence, the reverse motion of reality!"
Elysia was silent for a long time before sighing, "Is this what the research institute calls the dialectic of sociology? The nothingness of subjectivity, the absolute movement of inter-objectivity."
Why are we suddenly having a philosophy lecture?!
Kiana felt this matter shouldn't be so complicated. It was just a matter of something hiding in the Stigma Space, but hiding couldn't change reality. The key wasn't how great the Stigma Space was, but that the Stigma Space itself lacked the power to enact change. The power to change belonged to Imaginary Energy, a material energy source that could be objectively utilized by people.
"We are all just living in a cave underground... just a group of primitive people, sitting on the ground with our backs to the cave entrance, our hands and feet shackled, able to see nothing but the dull stone wall before us, illuminated by a fire behind us."
"Occasionally, by the light of the fire, the shadow of something is cast upon the stone wall—and these shadows are the entire world in our eyes."
"The shadows... are our everything."
Elysia told a story, but it wasn't a particularly strange one. Noldrei remembered seeing it somewhere; it was a story from a philosopher of this world.
He was scornful of the story. After all, it didn't explain why their hands and feet were shackled, or why everyone was forced to look toward the inside of the cave. It wasn't as if there was only one person. Some might look forward, some might look back, look up when they're happy, look down when they're not, and look left or right when they're bored. All were possibilities.
Life presented countless options, far more complex and interesting than the philosopher's allegory.
"So, does this mean the Cocoon of Finality is stronger than the one from the Previous Era?"
Noldrei was very curious to see how much this thing could learn. It seemed to be like an intelligent AI.
"That's right. It seems the current Cocoon of Finality is more... cunning than the one from the Previous Era."
Elysia looked at Noldrei with complex emotions.
The Previous Era's Cocoon of Finality was like a rigid, lifeless piece of software. But the current era's Cocoon was like a cunning fox, constantly testing and phishing to learn the methods of a future human from Noldrei.
Noldrei was a real monster, feeding the Cocoon's AI to such an extent.