Stelle had never encountered anything like this before.
Her life had always been about fighting and killing. When had she ever had time for something like cracking ciphers?
"Why does life slumber? What does that even mean?" she couldn't help but ask.
Noldrei explained, "From a materialist perspective, the question 'why does life slumber' doesn't require much of an answer. Slumber is simply the body's need to restore its energy to continue its activities in reality. Things like dreams are just byproducts of memory storage and organization. They're not worth paying attention to."
He was a human from a material universe and had some understanding of these spiritual products where consciousness became reality. He knew that such things were real in this world.
So, after hearing Noldrei's cold, materialist response, Stelle lamented, "There's not a shred of beauty in that explanation. So, slumber and rest are the same thing?"
Himeko and Mr. Yang exchanged a look. They felt that things probably weren't that simple, but Noldrei's words weren't wrong, either.
Slumber was a necessary process for the body to recover, and dreams were just a byproduct of that process. It was a cold, realistic answer. The guy clearly had no emotional investment in things like dreams.
"How could it be that simple?" March 7th said with disdain. "I remember hearing that Penacony is a place filled with Memoria, right? And isn't there a hotel there called the Reverie? It's supposed to let people seek happiness in the world of dreams while they sleep."
She said proudly, "So it must have something to do with dreaming! Slumber is probably related to things like dreams and aspirations!"
Dan Heng was actually more inclined to agree with March 7th's guess. He also believed the phrase was related to dreams, mainly because of the preceding sentence: "Behold the impossible in the dream, seek the legacy of Penacony's father, the 'Clockmaker.'"
This meant that the dream would definitely involve the Clockmaker's legacy.
Dan Heng shared his view, and the group quickly leaned toward a dream-related development.
But Noldrei's thinking was different. He never cared for so-called emotions, legacies, or anything of the sort. After learning a bit about Penacony from March 7th, he became even more convinced that this was a problem in reality, not something related to the Clockmaker's legacy.
Noldrei explained, "No matter what the problem is in the dream world, the thing we need to do in reality is the act of 'sleeping and dreaming,' isn't it? If we follow that line of thought, we have to dream in reality to find something related to Memoria, or some kind of special power, in the dream world."
"So why don't I just snatch it in reality? There can only be one reason: it's completely impossible to do so in reality! That's why we need to go through the dream to complete the process."
He stated with conviction, "So the focus isn't on the dream at all, but on the process of making us dream! The real-world action of 'slumber' is the real key!"
This was a very novel line of thought.
Mr. Yang understood what Noldrei meant. He exchanged a look with Himeko. "So you're saying, the key to finding the answer is in the process of 'dreaming' or 'entering Penacony' itself!"
Himeko also had a moment of realization. She understood that the Express crew had to find a way to avoid slumber, or at least, a way to know if they were in a dream.
She was quite pleased with Noldrei's quick thinking; it had cleared up a lot of things for her.
"Let's not worry about dreaming or not dreaming for now," Himeko said, feeling much more at ease. "The first thing we need to do is figure out how to tell if we're in a dream. Only then can we truly find the 'impossible in the dream.'"
Meetings really did work. The Express crew quickly grasped the crux of the problem.
The dream wasn't important, nor was slumber. What was important was how to stay awake, how to escape the dream.
"As long as we can ensure that our real selves are not in any trouble, we can re-enter the dream at any time. We don't need to care what's hidden inside. If we search enough times, we'll eventually find the final, key legacy!"
Himeko quickly decided on a strategy. She believed they needed to find a key item that could wake them up from an unconscious dream state.
But here, they ran into a problem. How were they supposed to stay awake while slumbering?
The dreams were all controlled by the Family of Penacony. If someone in these families went crazy and created a dream that was nearly identical to reality, it would be very difficult for anyone to tell which was the dream and which was reality.
However, this problem was no problem at all for Noldrei.
"It doesn't have to be that complicated," he said. "I can't dream. I don't need a function like dreaming to recover. My body is incredibly strong; my recovery rate already exceeds my normal consumption. For you all, sleep is necessary to restore your spirits. For me, it's a complete waste of my time."
Noldrei smiled. "It's as simple as that. I'll just wake you up from the outside in reality!"
Stelle's mind went blank. That was a remarkably simple and direct solution!
So all that analysis was just for them. This Noldrei guy didn't care about sleeping or not sleeping at all.
Mr. Yang hadn't expected such a simple, crude solution either. He was a bit dumbfounded himself.
Wait, what was going on? This made no sense at all.
"Then how will you go to Penacony with everyone?" Mr. Yang asked.
Noldrei didn't think this was a problem at all. "I just won't be a person, right? I remember you can carry devices like intelligent machinery, can't you? I'll just change my form."
"Change your form?!" March 7th stared at Noldrei in shock, not knowing what he meant.
Then, under the stunned gazes of the group, he instantly transformed into a Xianzhou Luofu delivery bird.
"See? Like this kind of toy. Can't I just go in with you all then?"
The sight of the delivery bird had stunned the members of the Express crew.
"No, wait, how can you just transform like that? Even if there are all sorts of strange powers in the universe, isn't this cheating?! If you really wanted to do something, who could possibly catch you?!"
March 7th thought this was too absurd. She had never seen such a useful ability before.
Himeko and Mr. Yang were a bit numb.
They silently observed the delivery bird, but in their hearts, they were already starting to feel sorry for the Xianzhou.
One could only imagine how much trouble the Luofu had faced when dealing with Noldrei.