Himeko and Mr. Yang exchanged a glance.
Both of them now fully understood their situation within the dreamscape.
The Reverie Hotel. They were already inside the dream version of it. Stelle's earlier warning had allowed them to quickly reorient themselves.
But that was also where the problem lay…
March 7th hadn't figured it out. In fact, she was still quite thrilled about their "arrival" at the hotel.
She was completely oblivious to the fact that she was dreaming.
Mr. Yang and Himeko hesitated, debating whether they should wake March up.
"The Family's check-in procedures are so tedious, aren't they? We went through like a dozen checks, and they rummaged through our luggage four or five times. I was starting to worry they were going to ask to take the Stellaron out of you for a look-see," March 7th complained to Stelle beside her, clearly frustrated by the convoluted process.
In truth, March had experienced this in reality, which was why she could simulate it so naturally again in the dream.
Stelle nodded along. "Yeah, if they'd dared to try, I'd have just detonated the Stellaron and taken them with me!"
Inspect the Stellaron? Are they asking for a death wish?
March 7th's face went pale. "W-well, there's no need to go that far," she said awkwardly.
Stelle was now fully aware that this Reverie Hotel was not the real one.
She had been immersed in a dream, and everything here was a manifestation reconstructed from Memoria.
While March 7th remained captivated by the hotel's magnificent splendor, Stelle had already moved past such trivialities.
She was relying on her personal mentor spirit's powerful search function to investigate the situation.
[You should now be re-experiencing the process of entering the hotel. The relationships between people in the dream may be reconstructed.]
[A dreamscape controlled by the power of Memoria is interconnected. You can think of it as a group of people sharing the same dream. Any parts you overlook will naturally be filled in by the memories of others.]
[Back in my world, some people tried to play around with this sort of thing. But everyone over there has similar abilities, so it's become a dime-a-dozen game now.]
Noldrei's explanations were always an eye-opener for Stelle. Things she found novel were just played-out concepts from Noldrei's home.
When it came to the reuse of Stigma Spaces, so-called "dreams within dreams" and other such tricks were completely incapable of shackling a person's free will.
No one understood this better than Noldrei.
'But how are we supposed to find the so-called Clockmaker's Legacy while we're in a dream?'
Stelle still wasn't used to this state of being in a dream but unable to wake up. She had nearly lost herself in it just moments before.
[You can think of Memoria as something like an internet server. Then think of each person's dream as an individual client. The entire dream of Penacony can be considered a server-environment platform running on a blockchain model.]
[With that, our course of action becomes basically clear.]
[We continue to spread the word that we know about the Clockmaker's Legacy. At the same time, we tell them we have the answer to 'Why does life slumber,' and that this answer points directly to the Clockmaker's Legacy.]
'But what if they don't believe us?'
Stelle still had her doubts.
She knew perfectly well that the Astral Express crew had no idea what the final answer was, but Noldrei's overwhelming confidence was so potent that it was making even her believe his claims.
[Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant. You just need to project confidence. Someone will naturally believe what you say. What you need is to make others believe you.]
Noldrei's words were a bit convoluted, but Stelle committed his instructions to memory.
Meanwhile, at the hotel's front desk, Mr. Yang was already making his move.
"Pardon me, but we were invited here to find the Clockmaker's Legacy. This is the invitation The Family gave us, along with a riddle keyed to the spatial curvature of the Astral Express's engine."
"You see, the decoded result is: 'To witness the impossible within the dream, to find the legacy of Penacony's father, the Clockmaker, and then to answer: Why does life slumber.'"
Mr. Yang stated all of this plainly. He looked at the young woman at the front desk and asked, "Are you sure you want to turn us away now? We already have the answer to 'Why does life slumber.' If you decide not to let the Astral Express crew into the hotel, we'll leave right now."
Mr. Yang's declaration left the receptionist completely stunned.
Is that something you can just say out loud?!
The others waiting nearby looked on, some in shock, some in amazement, and some in amusement at the scene unfolding at the front desk.
Ellie, an employee of Penacony's Reverie Hotel.
She had been working in the cosmos for a long time, but she had never met guests this brazen, this domineering. They even dared to publicly reveal the secret of The Family's invitation in a place like this.
So this is the Astral Express? These are the Nameless?
So what if you're backed by an Aeon? Is it fun bullying a little front-desk worker like me?
"Um, we..." Ellie had dealt with many problems, but none had ever been this thorny. She was even starting to wonder if she should find a new job.
The Astral Express had publicly stated the contents of the invitation, openly declared they had cracked the code, and even claimed to know what the Clockmaker's Legacy was.
How could she refuse them?
Whether it was true or not, she could only treat it as true, because her boss would certainly operate under the assumption that the Nameless were telling the truth.
The pressure was all on Ellie. She felt like a tiny blade of grass swaying between incomprehensible forces.
"P-please wait a moment, I'll check for you... about the situation with the platinum dream suite..."
Ellie checked the information again, the trouble she was in making her extremely anxious.
She had never imagined a predicament like this. Who could have anticipated the Astral Express would behave this way?
'What on earth should I do?'
Ellie's heart pounded with anxiety. After checking again, she confirmed that the person on the reservation was Dan Heng, not the girl, Stelle.
She, who was supposed to follow the rules, was now trapped in an unbearable contradiction.
No one in the crowd stepped forward to help. Stelle scanned her surroundings and noticed that most of the people had frozen in place, just staring at Mr. Yang.
She was certain that just moments ago, some of them had been about to chime in.
But as soon as Mr. Yang made his power play, everyone had fallen silent, waiting for Ellie's final decision.
[They are hoping we get turned away. Once we leave Penacony, these people can make a move on the Astral Express crew outside the protection of the so-called Harmony's Family.]
'Isn't that too dangerous?'
[No, not at all. People who want the answer will come to protect us.]
Through Stelle's eyes, Noldrei perceived everything within the dreamscape. He was absolutely certain of the influence the Clockmaker held in this place.
Stelle marveled at how Noldrei had so perfectly grasped their psychological weakness.