Ho ho. That feeling of stirring up trouble and then slipping away right after was actually pretty nice.
Only after she had completely shaken Robin off did Kallen finally slow down.
She had already wasted an entire day on the girl, so there was no way she was going to keep hanging around with her now.
Still, she was a little curious how things would turn out once Robin calmed down. Would she choose to believe Sunday, or would she go confront him again?
No, later she definitely had to skim off a bit more dream authority and sneak a peek.
"Poor Senior Robin," Kallen muttered under her breath.
Just as she was about to find a place to sit and enjoy the coming brother-sister showdown, a strange sensation suddenly brushed across the depths of her consciousness.
It was like an incredibly fine thread, far away somewhere, being tugged ever so lightly.
So a bad guy had finally made a move.
Kallen stopped at once.
She raised a hand and looked at her fingertips.
She could not see or touch that thread, but she knew it was there, that faint and indistinct connection between herself and some other existence.
It looked like Geppelt had finally noticed that a good chunk of his authority had been hijacked by her Nihility.
That did not surprise Kallen at all.
After all, old man Geppelt was no lightweight. Now that he had fused with Penacony's dreamscape itself, if he still could not notice that most of his authority had been stolen, that would just be pathetic.
Unfortunately for him, realizing it now was already too late.
Kallen lowered her hand again. That invisible thread still tugged faintly at her awareness.
She found a deserted corner, leaned back against the wall, and closed her eyes.
Her consciousness sank into that gray sea.
The power of Nihility flowed slowly through her body, and within that grayness, one golden thread shone with particular clarity. It was the dream authority she had borrowed from Geppelt.
At the other end of the thread, a violent fluctuation faintly pulsed.
Like someone furiously yanking back.
The corner of Kallen's lips lifted slightly. Following the thread, she gave it a sharp tug.
And then, just like that, a purple crow appeared in front of her.
"Well, well. Isn't this our Dreammaster, Mr. Geppelt?" she said lightly.
"What's this? You actually have a habit of tailing people?"
At last, the crow spoke.
"Tail? Miss Kallen, you jest. Every inch of this dream is my eye. How could that be called tailing?"
Kallen's expression sharpened.
Speaking in riddles? That earned a beating.
Yuda flashed into existence, and in an instant a spear of light pinned Geppelt in place.
Only then did he finally behave a little more.
"Miss Kallen, what is the meaning of this?"
"I'd like to ask you the same thing. You've been skulking after me the whole time, and you still have the nerve to ask what I mean? Mr. Geppelt, you seem just a little too bold."
The spear had gone through the edge of the crow's wing. It had not caused any real damage, but the warning could not have been clearer.
Geppelt, in the form of that purple crow, shook his feathers. Those crimson eyes stared at Kallen for several seconds before he let out a low sigh.
"I was not following you. I merely wished to speak with you."
"Speak? In crow form?"
"In a dream, form is only clothing draped over thought," Geppelt said calmly. "If Miss Kallen dislikes this appearance, I can change it."
"No need." Kallen waved a hand and withdrew Yuda. "You can stay like this. At least it's more pleasing to look at than your human shape."
The crow fell silent for a moment, apparently digesting the insult.
"Miss Kallen, I only wish to ask you one question."
"Go ahead."
"What do you truly want?"
Kallen blinked. "The way you say that, it sounds like I'm here to wreck things."
"Are you not?" Geppelt's voice remained even, but the feather grazed by the spear curled ever so slightly, betraying his unrest.
"You came to Penacony claiming you wanted to join the plan of Order, yet you injured me and seized dream authority besides."
"And now, what is it that you still want?"
He was right, in a way.
In just two short days after arriving on Penacony, Kallen had already done quite a lot.
Originally, Geppelt had meant to wait until she entered the dream, where he would have enough capital to contend with her.
But now that half the dream authority had been taken from him, he had completely lost any hope of matching her.
If he had known things would turn out like this, he might as well have exploded on her from the start.
Unfortunately, regrets were useless now.
"What do I want?" Kallen shook her head, as though disappointed by how boring the question was.
"Didn't I tell you the answer ages ago?"
She raised one finger and idly traced a circle in the air.
"I want to watch your Charmony Festival. I want to watch your plan succeed. I want to see what kind of flower Order will bloom into in this star system."
"That's all."
"That's all?"
"That's all."
The purple crow went quiet for a moment, staring at Kallen without blinking, as though searching for the slightest trace of dishonesty.
"Miss Kallen, I have lived a very long time."
"Long enough to have met far too many people who said one thing and meant another. They all claim it's nothing more than that, while secretly pursuing something else."
"And you think I'm one of them?"
"I do not know," Geppelt answered honestly.
"And that uncertainty is exactly what troubles me."
"You speak of helping us complete our plan, yet from your actions it seems our entire plan is already resting in your hands."
"And from a practical standpoint, none of it has progressed even half a step. That does not leave me feeling reassured."
Kallen did not bother denying it.
After all, the old thing was not wrong.
By now she already knew their plan in its entirety, had seized half of Penacony's dream authority, and on top of that wielded the strength of a Preservation Emanator—
If she truly intended to turn against them, their plan would have no hope at all.
That, presumably, was why Geppelt, even after realizing what she had done, still did not dare to openly break with her.
"Since you put it that way," Kallen said at last, "then as a teammate, I might as well help out a little for the sake of the plan."
Geppelt jolted.
"Oh? Miss Kallen finally intends to make a move?"
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
Truthfully, he did not believe a word she said.
Because from his point of view, Kallen did not know his true plan. That part, after all, he had hidden even from Sunday.
Yet her next words shattered that assumption.
"You know Dreamflux Reef, don't you? I can reclaim that place."
Kallen offered her suggestion, but Geppelt clearly had no such desire.
"You even know of Dreamflux Reef?"
"How do I know?" Kallen took over smoothly, her tone utterly relaxed.
"Mr. Geppelt, you don't seriously think all your little schemes are hidden flawlessly, do you?"
"If I know your plan, then of course I also know the true nature of Penacony's dreams."
"So, what do you say? I'll help you recover Dreamflux Reef, and in return you keep your mouth shut and go do what you're supposed to do."
That was the proposal she gave him.
Though really, it was only a smokescreen.
Since she had come to Penacony, Dreamflux Reef was a place she was absolutely going to visit anyway.
That part was perfectly natural.
Still, judging by Geppelt's reaction, his attitude toward Dreamflux Reef was clearly quite complicated.
Which made sense, considering how tangled his relationship with Mikhail was.
But Geppelt seemed more hung up on where she got her information.
"Is it because of dream authority? You seized part of my power, and that's how you learned of Dreamflux Reef?"
Fine, Kallen decided, she might as well follow that line of reasoning too.
"What do you think I took dream authority for? For fun?"
"No, that is not what I meant. It is only that Dreamflux Reef does not require any reclamation. If Miss Kallen is willing to help, then on my side there is also—"
Before Geppelt could finish, Kallen had already decided he was being annoyingly obtuse.
Whoosh—
Another spear of light slammed him into the wall.
"Alright then, it's settled. I'm going to reclaim Dreamflux Reef, and you'll go on handling the rest of your work."
Having said that, Kallen could no longer be bothered joking around with him.
The spear twisted once, and Geppelt's body was obliterated on the spot.
At last, everything returned to stillness.
And now, it was time for Kallen to prepare her next move.
Dreamflux Reef.
Kallen narrowed her eyes, rolling the name over silently.
Of course she knew the place. Not because of Geppelt's authority, but because she had already known it from the start.
In her memory, every inch of Penacony's secrets had been written down in perfect detail. Dreamflux Reef, Mikhail, even Propagation.
Those names had all been carved into her mind long before she ever set foot on this planet.
"So this is exactly why I hate spoilers."
As she spoke, Kallen called Yuda back.
The problem now was how to get to Dreamflux Reef.
On the surface, there were only two obvious ways.
Either find the memoria meme called Sleepie and hitch a ride.
Or take a sufficiently powerful attack and die inside the dream.
Unfortunately, Kallen had no interest in trying either.
She was not a Nameless, so she could not find Misha, which meant finding Sleepie would be equally difficult.
That would be way too lame.
So in the end, dream authority really was the better option.
Just because Geppelt did not want to go to Dreamflux Reef did not mean she did not.
As an ally of Order, naturally she had every duty to help ease his burdens.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 150)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter190)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter222)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 190
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 215
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 200
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 81
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 65
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 61
Checking In in Demon Slayer 65
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 15
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