"Welcome to the Reverie Hotel. My name is Misha, a bellboy here in Penacony. If you need any service or help with your luggage, you can call for me at any time."
'Hmm? A very pretty little femboy…'
[Is this really the time to be thinking about pretty femboys?]
Noldrei was currently synched with Stelle's senses. It wasn't that he couldn't synch with others, but after a brief discussion, only Stelle had been willing to share her sensory systems.
Stelle shook her head. "Not right now, but I'll find you if I need anything."
"Then I won't disturb you any longer. Please go find your companions."
Misha gave a slight bow and retreated.
'*He didn't even leave any contact info. How am I supposed to find him?*'
[The hotel staff here don't have a uniform?]
'*Well, it is the dream Reverie Hotel. I guess they can have all sorts of service staff, right?*'
Stelle didn't think it was a big deal. Since they were in a dream, wasn't it only natural for strange things to happen?
[Is that so?]
From Noldrei's observations, it seemed that Misha was the only one in the Reverie Hotel with a uniform different from the others.
After a brief negotiation with Sunday, Mr. Yang and Himeko had managed to secure Stelle a chance to check into the hotel.
Encountering such bizarre trouble even in a dream left Mr. Yang feeling rather exasperated.
"That singer, the superstar from Epsilon, If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking is your work, isn't it?"
March 7th was currently in full fangirl mode. When Stelle came over, she found March trailing after the winged woman, a look of pure adoration on her face.
[March 7th is a fangirl? I thought she was usually quite the narcissist.]
'*Maybe it's a hobby... I don't really know. I don't have any past memories, so how would I know any celebrities?*'
Stelle hadn't been a fan of anyone since she woke up, so she naturally didn't understand the feeling.
Robin replied politely, "I didn't expect such a lovely young lady to be a fan of my music."
March 7th beamed. "It really is the Robin!"
[What a classic, perfunctory response...]
'*You're being too harsh. Even I know that celebrities have to deal with tons of fans and it gets tiring.*'
[Her voice sounds a bit strange. I wonder if she lip-syncs most of the time.]
Listening to the singer, Robin, Noldrei subconsciously made a simple comparison between her and Shigure Kira. He figured her voice was either damaged, or she usually relied on autotune and lip-syncing.
'*For real? She really lip-syncs? Should I expose her? What if March gets scammed?*'
Stelle was shocked. She was terrified that her good friend March 7th would be deceived by some scummy celebrity.
[Don't worry. Given March 7th's allowance, she doesn't even qualify to be scammed.]
'*Wow, that's harsh!*'
Robin gave a brief introduction. The gist of it was that she was originally from Penacony but had left after becoming a big star. Now, her brother was a member of The Family's ruling class and had specially organized some grand Charmony Festival, inviting her back to participate.
Her brother was the man named Sunday.
Sunday was The Family's representative in Penacony, the head of the altruistic and self-disciplined Oak Family, and the leader of the dreamscape paradise.
Both of them were members of the Halovian race, who had ended up stranded in Penacony as children due to an accident.
To put it bluntly, they were both orphans.
March 7th's fangirling was brief. She soon joined everyone else in getting her room key and completing the check-in process.
The room key was a special souvenir. What truly concerned Noldrei wasn't how exquisite the key was, but the special "Dream Entry Instructions" printed on it.
1. Maintain a calm state of mind. Intense emotional fluctuations may lead to unexpected dream sensations (such as falling, weightlessness, pain, etc.).
2. Enter the dream face-up. Please do not attempt to enter the dream lying on your stomach, kneeling, or in other unconventional positions to avoid the risk of drowning.
3. Do not take sleep aids. The dreampool's fluid has a rapid sleep-inducing effect, and no medication is needed. If you are unable to enter the dream after a long period of full immersion, please contact hotel staff.
4. Do not enter the dream naked. Your initial appearance in the dream will be the same as your state when you entered. To avoid startling other guests, please ensure you are fully clothed before entering.
5. Do not steal others' identities. The Family respects the identity and privacy of every guest. Please do not attempt to impersonate, attack, or slander other guests in the dream.
6. On behalf of the Oak, Alfalfa, Night-Thrush, Hound, and Iris Families, we wish you a peaceful dream.
'*There are five families in total. I wonder what each of them is in charge of. And why would your initial appearance match your state when you enter the dream? Is there some special reason for that?*'
Stelle didn't quite understand some of the rules. She could grasp the part about not stealing identities, which also implied that someone could indeed steal an identity. It also meant you could impersonate, attack, and slander others, as long as you didn't get caught.
[Rather than that question, I'm more curious about how they monitor the situation within the dream. Have you ever played a game? It's like having a GM in the server's backend; they can detect discrepancies in each player character's data.]
[Since everyone is in the dreamscape, with such a large number of outsiders, what exactly does The Family of Penacony rely on to monitor for anything unusual?]
'*Are you saying we're also being monitored by Penacony?*'
Stelle found that terrifying. No wonder they don't let you enter naked; they've obviously been watching all along.
[There's no need for such worries. The scanning equipment outside Penacony already has that capability. They don't need to specifically look at you naked.]
[For a cosmic-level civilization, the ability to rapidly scan and understand the human body is a functional technology that is bound to be developed.]
'*Isn't that development a bit... excessive?*'
[What do you expect? You want them to end up like the Xianzhou, with someone smuggling a Stellaron inside them?]
Noldrei's question stumped Stelle. She racked her brain for a long time but couldn't figure out a way to bypass these "x-ray" detection methods.
'*I never thought interstellar society would be so utterly shameless!*'
Stelle was deeply grieved. Her image of the cosmos had been severely tarnished.
[However, I am now somewhat curious about the dream-within-a-dream situation. There is another issue we need to be aware of, which is...]
[How do we distinguish between parallel, boxed dreams and nested, dream-within-a-dream structures?]
Noldrei considered a strange possibility, because the dream-within-a-dream construct could be a structure created through deception.
And he had actually played with such structures in the Stigma Space. In fact, most games used similar structures.