"...The strange phenomenon just now was caused by equipment failure at Clock Studios Theme Park. The family has sealed off the site at the first opportunity, and no one was injured. Guests, please rest assured."
The light of Preservation, the shadow of Nihility, the purple stars that inexplicably obscured the sky, and the storm now whipping up in the dreamscape, every one of these things was so eye-catching that it was impossible for the Dreamchasers wandering through the dream to ignore such magnificent phenomena.
However, the family reacted quickly and had already provided explanations for these events. These explanations were being played repeatedly throughout the dreamscape to calm the frightened dreamers.
"I swear, that definitely wasn't a movie shoot!" A Pepeshi guest spoke in a panicked voice. "So many chips fell from the sky. I even caught one, but in the blink of an eye, it disappeared without a trace!"
"Exactly, exactly!" another person chimed in. His face was still showing a lingering look of fear, as though he was already thinking about leaving Penacony as soon as possible.
"That red light and shadow that suddenly appeared was even more terrifying. It felt like it was going to suck me in, and then there were all those strange phenomena afterward... Look at this sky, and the storm raging through Golden Hour right now. Is this something a movie can produce!?"
"I don't think that's necessarily the case." A man who looked rather intelligent spoke up.
"A while ago, I was watching a movie being filmed in Golden Hour with some other people. Besides, this is a dreamscape."
"Filming a movie in a dream, it's not impossible for the family's Dreamweavers to achieve something like this. Maybe these storms will turn into something else in a little while."
"Speaking of movies, those two leads we saw in Golden Hour before really left an impression. That red-haired knight wearing silver armor was so handsome. He perfectly fulfilled every fantasy I've ever had about knights."
"And that little white-haired girl was even cuter. All I can say is, I've never seen anyone that good-looking in my entire life."
"And I'm being serious. A lot of people saw them. We had a whole group of people watching, and we were even thinking that if Miss Robin sang the insert song or some other song for that movie, it would be the strongest movie of this Amber Era in my mind."
"Don't disbelieve me. Really. So many people saw them. Just ask around in Golden Hour and you'll know I'm telling the truth."
Several people discussed the strange phenomena that had occurred in the dreamscape. Some were pessimistic, some were worried, while others optimistically believed the family's explanation and connected it with what they had witnessed themselves.
Suddenly, a very gentle female voice sounded beside the three of them. "Hello. Are you discussing the accident at Clock Studios Theme Park?"
"Mm, yeah, what's wrong..."
The three turned around, and the moment they saw who had spoken, they all straightened up.
"Oh... oh-ho! Miss Robin?! I... I must be seeing things."
"Oh-ho! Miss Robin."
"Oh... oh-ho! Did... did you hear what I just said?"
Of course, what these three saw was not the real Robin. The case had not yet been resolved. She was actually Sparkle, an actress temporarily serving as Robin's stand-in while Robin was absent.
Sunday... The head of the Oak Family might not agree to the proposal she had made earlier, but Penacony did not have only one family... A Fool always rings the bell twice. Between this time and the next, one of them would eventually open the door.
"Hehe, don't be nervous." Sparkle imitated Robin's manner and gave them a gentle smile.
"I'm sorry that the strange experience just now brought an unpleasant experience to your beautiful dream journey."
"The phenomena you saw just now are an unreleased dream simulation technology from the Iris Family."
"So that means they really were filming a movie just now? My guess was right after all."
"Mm..." Sparkle nodded. "However, the three of you mustn't tell anyone about this. I might need to use these when I perform onstage."
As she spoke, Sparkle took out three exquisitely shaped buttons and handed them over.
"As a reward for keeping the secret, this little gift is for you. Press it at some point during the ceremony. There might be a surprise."
And so, the three guests happily accepted the buttons.
Sparkle called this little thing the Mutual Assured Destruction Button, a somewhat frightening name. No one knew whether pressing it would blow all of Penacony into the sky, or... bring a surprise.
Sparkle soon left the area. She then looked up curiously at the purple stars and the tornado rising straight into the sky.
After running through the possibilities in her mind, she quickly identified the targets that could have caused such enormous phenomena.
Aventurine... That aurora of Preservation should have been his doing. As for the rest... part of it should have been done by that Miss Acheron, while the other parts... The family probably wasn't capable of doing them, nor were they likely to do them... That Black Swan seemed to be missing something, and the Knights of Beauty didn't seem like the kind of people who would do something like this... Then it could only be that little colleague.
It's really nice not having a commission. Lady Sparkle wants to play like this too...
While thinking absentmindedly, Sparkle wandered around Golden Hour for a while longer, talking and interacting with different people, calming them down, and giving them Mutual Assured Destruction Buttons.
At this moment, the magnificent phenomena surging through Golden Hour also began to change.
The Memory Zone storms connecting heaven and earth suddenly froze, and then, at some moment, transformed into a huge cylindrical structure reaching at least into the clouds. It looked like some kind of device...
Looking at that thing, Sparkle blinked. A word appeared in her mind.
'Elevator?'
"It's done!"
A smile appeared on Nero's face as he pointed at the enormous object beside him.
The people standing around him now had somewhat complicated expressions.
They had witnessed firsthand just how absurd Nero's ability to manipulate Memory Zone material was. With nothing more than a wave of his hand, countless Memory Zone particles surged forth and formed tornadoes reaching straight into the clouds.
However, when they were wondering what miraculous method Nero would use next, those tornadoes gathered together, then collapsed and solidified, eventually becoming this enormous pillar...
An elevator.
"Why is it an elevator..." March looked at the enormous creation Nero had produced through actual manipulation of the Memory Zone and could no longer suppress her urge to complain.
Nero blinked and answered, "Argenti said that the knights who discovered Robin would look up and see Golden Hour. In other words, we're above them, and they're above us. Our destination is to 'go to heaven.'"
"There are many ways to go to heaven, but not everyone can fly, and even fewer people can jump up there in one go. Black Swan can't make that many people either."
"Argenti would need more time to go back and pilot the Everwinter, and the family probably won't arrange some kind of airship or something for us."
"Besides, they probably don't even know about that place themselves. Otherwise, Sister Robin would have been found already."
"So after ruling out all those things, the method most commonly used in stories, and the most commonly used way of going to heaven, should only be a heavenly ladder, right?"
At this point, Nero narrowed his eyes and wore a proud expression.
"And look, I even took the height into consideration. Whether it's a rope, a rope ladder, or steps one after another, climbing all that would be exhausting, so I directly made an elevator. Whoosh, and we're up!"
Looking at Nero's slightly raised face, March opened her mouth, then hesitated.
She found herself completely unable to complain. She had to admit, what Nero said made a lot of sense.
But this elevator still felt a little out of place.
Thinking about all those stories she had seen before, where was there ever a "heavenly ladder" like this?
Although it was a stereotype, she still found it difficult to imagine what it would look like if the ladder leading to an immortal realm in those stories passed down from long, long ago were actually an enormous elevator.
Seeing such a huge, cylindrical structure all at once was simply too striking.
It even made her instantly imagine what it would be like if Nous could be anything at all: Cyber Nanook, Punk-Qlipoth, Virtual Xipe...
'Oh my god, this was literally Data Aha!'
March narrowed her eyes slightly. Judging from everyone else's expressions, March could confirm that she was still normal, because everyone else had also been stunned by Nero's bizarre idea, except for the two knights beside them.
"You actually thought through so much. Your wisdom is filled with wonderful ideas!"
"And you even considered that we would get tired climbing the stairs... and deliberately made it into an elevator... Sob... You are truly too gentle..."
March felt that even though Dan Heng called her "world-shakingly wise," she still had trouble understanding how exactly the knights' brains were wired.
But from another perspective, it made sense that the Knights of Beauty were popular.
After all, they were very good at playing along.
Who would dislike constantly hearing nice things?
———
"Although Nero is very smart, sometimes I really wish this child couldn't use that quick and nimble little brain of his. Even if his explanation makes perfect sense, even if he was thinking of me, I still don't want to suddenly see a 'heavenly ladder' like this..."
Looking at what Nero had created in the game, Siberian Duck tugged at the corner of his mouth, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Please, Nero. I know you're cute, but please stop ruining your own image!"
[Aha's Emanator: This is Nero. This is exactly what makes Nero cute. As the hidden version of the 'Train's Two Divine Jokers,' he always manages to pull out some spectacularly bewildering stunt when no one is expecting it.]
[Raccoon in the Trash Can: Nero is different from Stelle Babe. As a character we control, the Trailblazer's absurdity has gradually become the natural state of things, but every time Nero pulls something like this, it really feels sudden.]
[I Use Pantene: After all, Nero is mostly the cute mascot. So smashing through walls and breaking into mazes, jumping down on immortals, trying to make landmine traps out of fragmentum Creatures, that damn factory, the Green-Headed Fish, and now this elevator... Every single time, he suddenly hits me with something.]
[Glue Man: You really know your stuff, Master Pantene.]
[Flowers Get Baldder by the Day: March's train of thought went the same way as mine. I also thought of things like Cyber Buddha and Electronic Bodhisattva.]
[My Pee Is Yellow: Miss Flower, hurry up and draw it. I want to see Nero's giant elevator this time!]
[My Pee Is Yellow: Look at this elevator, so thick, so sturdy, reaching straight into the clouds. Nero is really amazing!]
[Flowers Get Baldder by the Day: Brother Yellow Pee, you're getting a little too much...]
[Pom-Pom: As someone who has seen most of Teacher Flower's works, I have to say, if Miss Flower herself says Brother Yellow Pee is too much, then Brother Yellow Pee must really have gone a little too far.]
[So Handsome I Get Beaten Up on the Street: After all, Miss Flower is quite a prominent figure in the extreme-content world... But I still have to say, that hit the spot.]
[So Handsome I Get Beaten Up on the Street: From the moment I saw this plot, I was waiting for Brother Yellow Pee to speak. If I don't see him in this livestream, I feel itchy all over.]
———
Although the elevator Nero had created was somewhat astonishing, everyone eventually got into the elevator together and, after it started up, headed toward that little-known corner of Penacony.
Because he was worried they would be bored during the ascent, Nero even made the elevator's outer structure transparent, allowing everyone to see the scenery around them as they rose.
At this point, if they lowered their heads and looked down, they could see quite a few people looking over in confusion, curious about the enormous cylindrical structure that had suddenly appeared in the dreamscape.
As they climbed higher, gradually, everyone could no longer see the dreamscape below. They began traveling through a purple sea of stars.
Countless points of starlight flickered, countless star-making nebulae slowly drifted, and stardust burst forth from the depths like mist, stirring up a shimmering radiance.
This scene of being immersed in the sea of stars lasted for some time before slowly fading. After passing through a layer of gray-black thick clouds, some faint, flickering lights began to appear above them.
The outline of a dim city was traced out amid the shadows and faint lights, hanging upside down above their heads.
As the elevator rose, everyone drew closer and closer to the city. Although it was directly opposite Golden Hour, this city was nothing like Golden Hour, which was resplendent with gold and jade.
Compared with the lively Golden Hour, from a distance, this place looked like a sleepy thorn bush, like the head of a chicken coop after sleeping soundly for three days.
After a while, the elevator stopped.
Everyone fell silent. No one moved.
After a moment, March spoke first. "So... how do we get out now? After we go out, will our heads hit the ground because the gravity has changed?"
"As for gravity... perhaps I can..."
Welt spoke up, but then Welt was interrupted, "How could Memory Zone material be such an inconvenient thing?"
Nero's finger drew an arc through the air, and the elevator everyone was riding in changed again, transforming into an arched passageway.
"There, isn't that better? Let's get out! Since we made this dream ourselves, we're in charge. If we just stay inside, then we don't have to worry about gravity suddenly reversing, right?"