For the answer to this question, 'Hysilens' could only search within the confines of a dream.
The ocean of the Memory Zone was a chaotic mess. This was the territory of Remembrance, where only Memory itself could act with such wanton abandon.
Although the character card for the Aeon Fuli hadn't finished recharging yet, it wasn't a major issue. The system reward she'd received back then carried a trace of Fuli's essence.
When it came to the domain of Remembrance, she lacked the raw scale of an Aeon, but her power was comparable in sheer quality.
Previously, she had struggled with her output, unable to perform a more detailed or thorough scan. But things were different now, bolstered by the empowerment of Elation. She wouldn't go so far as to say she was Fuli's equal, but she could at least manage ten or twenty percent of THEIR level.
It was precisely because of this that 'Hysilens' had the confidence to go fishing for Razalina's existence within this turbulent sea of memories.
As her consciousness sank into the Memory Zone, she felt its vastness and disorder. For a moment, she didn't even know where to begin.
"...Now that I think about it, I could have brought Demiurge and Evernight along."
She could have shared some of Elation's power with them, letting them help search within the Asdana star system. With those two assisting, her workload would have been cut in half.
"But then again, where did those two run off to? I haven't heard a peep from them lately."
If 'Hysilens' didn't know how capable they were, she might have actually worried that something had happened to them. On the flip side, she was now a bit concerned they might be out there causing trouble.
After all, Evernight wasn't exactly known for being polite when she got her hands dirty, and Demiurge was still a young girl with very little world experience.
She truly feared that the day she finally got news of them, it would be accompanied by some massive catastrophe.
'Hysilens' shook her head with a smile and began to wildly expand her perception.
Soon, the memories of the entire Asdana system were enveloped within her senses. Once she moved past Asdana, the density of Memoria plummeted.
The difference in the environment was like stepping from heaven straight into hell. Having reached this limit, 'Hysilens' stopped expanding.
Instead, she took out that mask she rarely used and placed it over her face, releasing the power of Elation to buff herself.
The feedback was almost instantaneous. 'Hysilens' could feel her own power over Remembrance surging rapidly. The energy she had released across Asdana began to penetrate the entire Memory Zone with frantic, exaggerated intensity.
Normally, when power spiked like this, it would cause a Pathstrider to lose control to some degree.
After all, this wasn't her own strength; it was a forced amplification through Elation. In fact, 'Hysilens' felt a flicker of that instability herself.
Fortunately, she was not only a flawless being but also an Aeon of Elation recognized by Aha. Though she didn't walk the Path of Remembrance, she had already experienced power at the Aeon level.
Combined with the stabilizing influence of Equilibrium, she quickly steadied the exaggerated surge after that initial moment of turbulence.
As her power delved deeper into the Memory Zone, 'Hysilens' felt it.
Beneath the chaotic environment, there were many subtle discrepancies.
These weren't variations caused by the environment itself, but something more unique and orderly, hidden within the jumbled mess.
As 'Hysilens' pushed further, she slowly realized what was happening. These things were forming a massive, unstable network along the channels that connected the Sweet Dreams.
Under her probing, these unique, orderly "things" fed back fragments of garbled information.
"...Hmm, why does this massive, strange network feel so bizarre to me?"
'Hysilens' had a faint suspicion in her heart. She didn't dare jump to conclusions, choosing instead to continue her cautious probing.
The power of Remembrance seeped into this special "mechanism" that blanketed Penacony.
While it caused some temporary glitches in the Family's Dreampool functions, the deeper she went, the clearer the picture became. Those jumbled bits of information were pieced together into a whole.
When her power reached a certain depth, 'Hysilens' finally understood the meaning of those messages.
It was a very simple greeting:
'I wish you a pleasant dream.'
Beyond that single sentence, there was nothing else.
'Hysilens'' first thought was: Razalina can still speak?
Her second thought was: How on earth did that woman pull this off back then, turning herself into... this?
From 'Hysilens'' perspective, it was as if Razalina had become the very law of guidance itself.
Since this law covered the entire Asdana system, one could say Razalina had merged herself into the star system's sea of memoria. This entire complex set of rules was her very existence.
'Hysilens' couldn't even say for sure if she still counted as a living being in the broad sense of the word. And considering the extreme chaos of the Memoria ocean, the chances of her being "savable" weren't zero—but they weren't far from it. Still, a search was a search.
At the very least, she didn't have to dredge the entire ocean for a consciousness aimlessly anymore, though it wasn't much better.
'Hysilens' very carefully tried to touch that layer of rules with her power, attempting to analyze and learn from it. In the process, she did find traces of Razalina.
However, because her presence was practically everywhere, the process of locating her actual consciousness became incredibly difficult.
It was possible that the fragile consciousness was hidden within some unremarkable memory shard. Because of that, 'Hysilens' couldn't just sweep through with her power; if she did, any existing consciousness would likely be snuffed out.
Unless she turned into the real Fuli right now, finding Razalina directly would be a monumental task.
'Hysilens' did a rough calculation of the time required and realized this project would take at least a hundred system days.
And then...
"Whew, no, this is taking too long. I really need to call in some help. I can't pour all my remaining time into this during this roleplay cycle."
With her 'Hysilens' character card active, it was obviously easier to understand the Nihility Equation.
Coming out like this to ease her mental stress was one thing, but dumping all her time into this would be a waste.
So, 'Hysilens' chose to suspend the task for now, though she didn't plan to withdraw her power.
Instead, she condensed a mask that looked like it was made of colored glass. The smooth, mirrored surface reflected a seven-colored glow—a crystallization of the power of Remembrance.
'Hysilens' poured the powers of Remembrance and Elation into the mask, tethering the energy she had already spread out to it. This maintained her perception and control over the entire Asdana system.
After all, she had relied on the amplification of Elation to find these secrets hidden beneath the chaos. If she didn't leave behind a medium, Demiurge and Evernight would have nowhere to start when they arrived.
With that finished, 'Hysilens' withdrew her consciousness from the Memory Zone. She then sent messages to both Demiurge and Evernight, asking if they were free.
If she couldn't find them, she'd just have to come back after her character card duration expired.
She had no idea what those two were up to. While their accounts weren't exactly "out of service," they weren't replying either.
So, 'Hysilens' decided to wander around Penacony for a bit and visit some old friends. Since she had come out specifically to dispel the side effects of Nihility, she wasn't in a rush to head back.
She found a spot and recorded several song tutorials and scores for little Robin, saving them into Light Cones to have Gopher Wood deliver them.
It was a way to make sure her singing voice didn't go to waste. Of course, unlike the "inappropriate" songs from last time, the ones she left for little Robin were perfectly fine in both lyrics and melody.
She left six songs in total, including Moon Halo, Rubia, and Da Capo.
It was a pity she didn't get to tease the kid in person, but that would have to wait until their next meeting. Though the influence of Nihility was minuscule, it was better to eradicate it completely.
By the time she finished recording the songs, the side effects had faded. She had originally thought about looking for Hysilens to tease the little Siren again, but since the side effects vanished earlier than expected, she decided to head back.
After confirming that continuing her research wouldn't affect her, 'Hysilens' said her goodbyes to the Express crew and Gopher Wood before leaving Penacony.
Yet, even by the time she returned to the borders of Nihility, Demiurge and Evernight still hadn't replied.
She really wondered what those two were doing.
Returning to the border of Nihility, she stepped back to Acheron's side.
Acheron stared directly into 'Hysilens'' eyes, as if trying to find something hidden within them. After staring intently for quite a while, Acheron finally let her off the hook, though she sounded hesitant:
"Have you really... rested enough?"
'Hysilens' couldn't help but laugh. She reached out and gave Acheron's cheeks a firm squeeze.
"You've been staring for so long, and you're still not sure? If something was wrong, I wouldn't have come back."
Acheron didn't resist; she just smiled and nodded.
The two of them found a flat spot to sit down again. 'Hysilens' looked out at the calm, pitch-black sea and slowly began to settle back into her zone. As she did, she chatted with Acheron:
"Oh, right. I went to Penacony this time. Guess what I found."
"What?"
"A Nameless from the Astral Express who might actually still be savable. She's practically fused with Penacony's Memory Zone. I thought she was a goner for sure; it's pretty wild."
'Hysilens' shared her experiences piece by piece with Acheron. Acheron listened quietly, the smile on her face filled with a sense of peace.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL