Before she came to Penacony, Stelle had been very curious about the world of dreams.
But after arriving, and after Noldrei explained the subtle yet crucial differences between it and reality, the filter through which she saw Penacony was shattered.
If the Xianzhou had to revert to its original social system because its societal relations couldn't keep up, that was understandable. Similar situations had occurred in many civilizations.
But to have something as powerful and destructive—and productive—as a Stellaron, and all you can think to do with it is make everyone dream?
Stelle wasn't an idiot. She had a Stellaron inside her own body and had witnessed the power of a Stellaron eruption on both Jarilo-VI and the Xianzhou.
She naturally knew the benefits and dangers that such power could bring.
With that kind of power, you could achieve almost anything with immense assistance, especially when it came to doing bad things.
"This is really strange. How do you know about this? Never mind, even if I ask, you won't tell me."
Stelle didn't fully trust Firefly, but she didn't press the matter.
She felt that Firefly was most likely telling the truth. Someone was using the power of a Stellaron to guide these Memoria and cause some kind of change, resulting in the current state of Penacony.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons they were using the Clockmaker's Legacy to attract people here.
'*Is there some kind of trap in all this?*'
Having just dug a pit for someone else, Stelle had now learned to worry about others digging pits for her. This blasted place, Penacony, looked like a pit no matter how you looked at it, with some unseen purpose buried deep within.
[I don't know. We should continue to check out other parts of Penacony. Aren't there many different 'Hours' separated here? I think each of these dreamscapes has a different faction behind it. And... have you forgotten? Our goal is to make others believe that we really know what the Clockmaker's Legacy is.]
[No matter how others manipulate things, they are ultimately using the Clockmaker's Legacy. We just need to make people believe 'the legacy is in our hands' more than the people behind the scenes do. Then, the people behind the scenes will have to use more power to reverse this public opinion trend.]
'*I see! It seems our Astral Express has a higher credit rating, then.*'
Stelle realized that in the eyes of many factions, the Astral Express indeed represented a high degree of credibility. It even often had the reputation of being a super-righteous faction.
The credibility of her words was naturally boosted by the past deeds of the Nameless.
Firefly found the current Stelle very strange. She noticed that the girl would always pause at certain moments. Perhaps it was because she was thinking, as her expression would always go through a peculiar cycle.
First confusion, then calmness, then realization, and finally, happiness.
It was clear that Stelle was using her own wisdom to think about what to do next, not even caring if Firefly would attack her at that moment.
Stelle's mission was to find the Clockmaker's Legacy. Her "killing" now was also to expose the secret of that legacy to more people.
At this point, Stelle had already sent off her first brother, "Fake Sampo."
Firefly was indeed useful; hadn't she just delivered a key piece of information? Stelle felt she should follow the Stellaron lead and investigate further. That way, she might find some secrets about Penacony.
"Firefly," Stelle suddenly asked, "what would you do if you had a Stellaron?"
"Ah... I..." Firefly hesitated for a long time, looking at Stelle, unsure how to answer.
'*Maybe I could try to cure my Entropy Loss Syndrome with the Stellaron?*'
Seeing her expression, Stelle knew that Firefly had never even considered the possibility of possessing a Stellaron.
"If I had a Stellaron," she said, "I certainly wouldn't use it as a tool to run this Penacony dreamscape, because there's no need... You could say... if I had a Stellaron, I could create a world identical to the Penacony dreamscape in reality."
"If I can do it in reality, why do I have to do it in Penacony? Is it because of the so-called Family in Penacony? What about the people in The Family? Don't they still have leaders and grunts who do the work?"
"Look at those grunts working for The Family. How many have we seen on the road? Don't they want to sit in high positions like their leaders?"
The thought that this dreamscape was so realistic made Noldrei feel a sense of helplessness.
On Earth, the Stigma Space used methods like Stigma memory bodies to achieve interactive management, while also using the Stigma's inherent ideological classification effect to achieve collective integration.
Compared to Penacony, which still required Family members to go from reality to the dream to work, it was a management philosophy that was completely outclassed.
"Since you've also seen the high and low statuses within The Family, here's the question... these people work for the higher-ups of The Family. Is it just to be minions in a dream? I mean, it's one thing if they're gofers in reality, but to still be gofers in a dream, what's in it for them?"
Stelle's words were so sharp that Firefly couldn't even answer.
Firefly had never considered the thoughts of the Penacony Family members. She was here to experience the feeling of being alive and kicking, and to see the life of the Nameless she admired.
But who would have thought that Stelle would bring up such a heavy and terrifying topic?
"Maybe it's for the operation of Penacony? If no one came to Penacony, there would be no inflow of resources from the outside galaxy. Without that inflow of resources, The Family would lose more benefits, causing more people who live off it to lose their jobs?"
"It should be an economic cycle, just... people didn't think about this problem before. Working in the Penacony dreamscape is a bit like many special civilization attractions. Perhaps that's why the Memoria here is so abundant."
Firefly explained this based on her own experiences.
Stelle nodded. "Penacony is not an island, just like you never know what kind of unseen crises exist in the universe."
"So, to dismantle Penacony from its roots, what we need to do is get more people to join our 'killing' team."
"Let these people in the dreamscape continue to taste the reality of the universe. Let them find that life of licking blood from the blade's edge once again."
Firefly stared blankly at Stelle, never expecting her to say something so terrifying.
What did that mean?
Did it mean she wasn't satisfied with killing just one person, and was planning to find more friends to join her and kill even more people?