This was impossibly difficult.
Luna's intrinsic comprehension of physics was not considered exceptionally proficient. While she could manage the creation of rudimentary constructs, contending with that seven-dimensional Civilization demanded extremely advanced technology. How could she possibly construct all of that, starting from a mere atom?
Furthermore, constructing from atoms was far too unstable for her purposes.
Atoms, after all, are built from fundamental particles, and fundamental particles are composed of strings.
To achieve true technological completion, she needed to operate and devise concepts at the string level.
This was practically equivalent to recreating an entire cosmos.
"These are not the rules of a mere dream."
"That seven-dimensional Civilization, in order to manifest weapons within this dream that could exert tangible effects upon the real world, deliberately established these precise rules inside the dream construct."
"If the dream environment is functionally identical to reality, then all they need is to port the resulting dream template directly into the physical realm."
"A truly ingenious concept."
"They can even utilize this architecture to continuously probe three-dimensional space."
"This is unequivocally not good news for me."
The more she analyzed it, the more insurmountable the seven-dimensional Civilization appeared to Luna.
Crucially, she needed to prepare everything required to face this Civilization within a span of only ten minutes.
Was that even remotely possible?
Luna concluded that she might as well surrender to the inevitable and await destruction.
As time elapsed.
Luna indeed perceived her surroundings gradually becoming brighter, transitioning to a state of near-daylight.
This shift—she couldn't even definitively ascertain if it stemmed from her own consciousness or an external force.
Because her own thoughts actively influenced her environment. She reasoned that if she thought, 'Once ten minutes pass, I will proceed to the dream world created by the seven-dimensional Civilization,' then this very dream environment would manifest accordingly.
Judgment became impossible.
Any thought she entertained was perfectly replicated in her immediate surroundings.
"At this very moment, even if I think, 'If this scene precisely matches the first instance, then my own mind created it; if it deviates, then it must be real.'"
"My thoughts will inevitably compel the dream to generate the latter scenario. This is an unsolvable paradox."
How could she possibly exert control over her own thoughts?
Luna attempted to fragment her consciousness into tens of thousands of separate streams, allowing these thoughts to overlap, burying her true intention deep within the noise.
Then she discovered she had inadvertently constructed tens of thousands of parallel worlds, and her singular true intention influenced the specific world corresponding to that stream.
And all of this occurred simply because she entertained the thought: I can achieve this separation.
The dream instantly provided the equivalent feedback loop.
"This is an epic-level problem. Most critically, I cannot deceive myself."
How to deceive oneself remains a profound philosophical quandary.
Self-suggestion and hypnosis might offer temporary solutions, but these are ultimately shallow forms of self-deception. Unless one completely severs all conscious thought processes, no method can truly alter a person's fundamental thinking.
But to entirely block one's own thoughts would immediately render her entirely passive.
"Most importantly, how can I confirm that none of this is merely a product of my own elaborate conjecture?"
"Perhaps the true enemy is only that aerogel layer. The dreamscape itself might just be the weapon. I received the initial warning because my past self committed suicide within a dream; it was its subconscious belief that the threat lay within the dream that caused it to generate that specific dreamscape."
"If that premise holds true, then I will never defeat the enemy."
Luna understood that the moment she accepted the enemy originated from seven dimensions, and that they possessed the capability to generate the Tide event, the foe instantly became terrifyingly potent in her mental calculus.
In the former scenario, if the enemy truly resided within the dream, she faced a Civilization of overwhelming power.
In the latter, if the enemy was external, she faced her own conjectures; she would have to defeat herself.
As Luna wrestled with agonizing deliberation.
Her surroundings had long since brightened to a uniform daylight intensity.
Immediately following this illumination.
New elements—colors—began to appear against the white expanse.
These were architectural forms.
No, not even architecture, but seemingly just lines.
Incredibly chaotic lines flooded Luna's field of vision, almost pressing down upon her.
These lines exhibited varying lengths and distances. They crisscrossed this space in an indescribable manner. They had to represent something.
Luna could extend her hand and touch the terminus of one thread, but as her hand entered the curve, that curve instantly warped into the mouth of a cave, though visually it remained nothing more than a simple line segment.
This was what she had glimpsed in the memories she had recently acquired.
This world could only be described using extreme abstraction.
Even having witnessed it once, Luna still couldn't truly internalize what this world fundamentally was.
Perhaps every single line represented an entire structure, or possibly contained an entire world within its dimensional frame.
Theoretically, even three-dimensional Civilizations could decompose dimensions and subsequently construct a two-dimensional reality; such spatial manipulation was possible in principle.
It was simply that the Federation had not yet mastered spatial technology at such an advanced level.
This seven-dimensional Civilization likely mastered the corresponding dimensional partitioning technology, establishing six-dimensional spaces nested within their seven-dimensional structure, and five-dimensional spaces within those, and so on.
They could employ this hierarchical method to incrementally reduce dimensions within the dream world until the environment was perfectly congruent with three-dimensional space.
All of this derived from Luna's conjecture.
It was highly probable that she was incorrect.
Her deliberation had consumed more than half a minute, yet the enemy had not appeared to annihilate her.
"Has some kind of system error occurred? Or perhaps they simply haven't registered my presence yet?"
Luna utilized this reprieve to begin moving.
Though she knew the chances were slim, she still hoped to gather more intelligence—at the very least, to transmit this data outwards.
The spatial environment here felt markedly heavy.
Unlike the frictionless, suspended state experienced in the outer aerogel, this felt like moving through dense water. Every step required strenuous effort, though it wasn't a state of complete immobilization.
She visualized equipping herself with a high-efficiency thruster system.
After dedicating a portion of her mental energy to refining the concept, the crude thruster finally generated a minimal amount of propulsion.
This thruster was rudimentary; it couldn't achieve rapid velocity, but it provided sufficient momentum.
She propelled herself through this space at a speed of 16 kilometers per second.
As she moved, the surrounding lines appeared to passively avoid her path, akin to two objects in a fluid medium gently parting as they approach each other.
She moved continuously.
This domain was truly boundless.
She could not locate a periphery.
She could not even establish a definitive direction.
She was forced to rely solely on one colossal line positioned above her, using it as an anchor point for her trajectory.
That single line was so immense; even after Luna traveled for a full minute, she perceived no discernible shift in its relative position.
However, the environment was not entirely static.
From its initial pure white saturation, the space began to take on a muted, dim quality.
"I must have entered a deeper realm of space. My movement is essentially purposeless. Although I believe I am navigating in three dimensions, it is highly probable that I am crawling at a snail's pace along another axis."
"Where are they?"
"They should permeate this entire environment."
"But I perceive nothing."
"Perhaps they are observing me. My own perception is too limited, leaving me like an ant confined to a flat sheet of paper, only able to sense what is directly ahead, detecting shifts within ten centimeters through scent and touch. I cannot perceive the beings watching over my existence."
"Last time, perhaps they recognized their error. They shouldn't have terminated me, but rather observed me, sought to understand me, to truly grasp what three dimensions entail."
The unknown remains the greatest source of dread.
Facing the unknown, even Luna couldn't help but allow her thoughts to run rampant.
Luna kept moving forward.
Aimlessly.
She did not know what she was searching for.
She saw absolutely nothing.
Perhaps it was the fleeting hostile entity from the last encounter, the one that annihilated her initial manifestation here.
But that entity, too, had been perceived only as a line.
At that time, she could not discern its complete form, only moving lines.
In a three-dimensional context, or rather, when represented in two dimensions, they appeared as lines.
Therefore, these surrounding lines Luna perceived might not even be spatial structures or architecture, but perhaps individual entities themselves.
These entities were watching her.
"Chilling!"
"Within the same dimension, just as I can partially apprehend them, they can perceive a part of me."
"No, not merely a part, but my entirety."
Seven-dimensional beings possess the inherent ability to perceive six dimensions.
Upon entering this space, Luna's physical form might very well have undergone a dimensional uplift. She had transitioned from a three-dimensional being to a seven-dimensional being, and in this state, every aspect of her being was laid completely bare before their sight.
"But this is merely a dream sequence. Have I truly attained seven-dimensional existence?"
Whether a being of a lower dimension could achieve dimensional ascent here was entirely contingent on how that seven-dimensional Civilization had constructed this environment.
Had they truly mastered the principles governing dimensional relationships?
"That line of reasoning is flawed. If they lacked that knowledge, how did they manage to annihilate my previous iteration?"
Luna found her hopeful line of inquiry utterly ridiculous.
She needed to dismiss such notions.
She continued walking.
A vast, immeasurable stretch of time seemed to pass.
She also began meticulously calculating her elapsed duration.
The most tedious method: counting second by second.
Thus, 183,789,122 seconds elapsed—amounting to over 5 years, nearly 6 years.
Had she not been counting, Luna would have perceived the passage of an entire century.
In a true void, confronting the unknown, life tends to miscalculate its experienced duration, invariably overestimating it.
Although less than six years had truly passed, Luna felt extremely fatigued, utterly drained.
She had been engaged in continuous contemplation.
Always devising strategies.
Always bewildered, contending with baseless, nagging suspicions.
These mental exertions caused her pain, making her even feel that the strenuous daily labor back in the Federation had been relaxing by comparison.
"Perhaps I am overcomplicating the situation. In reality, that Civilization has no logical reason to observe me within this specific context."
"They could simply simulate a world, and then observe my adaptations within that simulation."
"Or perhaps I am projecting too much complexity onto them. Their Civilization might not be as intricate as humanity's; their processes could actually be quite sluggish."
"The most plausible scenario is that they simply haven't detected me yet."
Then how had they discovered her previous self?
Luna racked her brain for an explanation.
Finally, she arrived at a potential answer.
"Originally, my prior self underwent a transition from three to seven dimensions. I personally experienced seven dimensions for an extensive period. One could argue I had fully integrated with the seventh dimension, which enabled me to instinctively know how to construct myself as a seven-dimensional entity within this dream."
"Therefore, upon entering the dream, I instinctively assumed I was operating in seven dimensions."
"The dream did not elevate my dimension; rather, my own consciousness achieved the ascent."
The moment Luna solidified this realization.
She perceived that the very space she occupied underwent significant shifts.
These alterations could even be described as seismic.
Those perceived lines were stretching; they had transformed from two-dimensional constructs into three-dimensional forms.
They had become rectangular cuboids.
After this transformation into rectangular cuboids, the immediate surroundings stabilized, but Luna felt that her own immediate environment was also undergoing some inexplicable alteration.
"Perhaps I am truly beginning to transition into seven dimensions now. Previously, I was mentally separating myself from that other memory. When I accessed that memory, it was viewed from a third-person perspective, meaning I couldn't truly internalize the raw sensation of my other self."
"But just now, by integrating that memory of myself, my dimensional perception became complete."
Luna looked around warily.
She sensed danger originating from all directions.
She might already be confronting her end.
This space was a monochromatic grayish-white, dotted with countless black rectangular cuboids. Beyond that, there was absolutely nothing else.
However, Luna distinctly sensed something.
The higher she ascended through the dimensions, the clearer her senses became.
Many unknown phenomena seemed to manifest around her.
Those things were...
"Emotions!"
"I sense countless emotions—joy, rage, confusion, skepticism… innumerable types."
"Why am I able to perceive these?"
Luna carefully probed, discovering the sheer volume of these feelings was staggering, nearly overwhelming.
She even felt a sensation akin to being submerged.
If each distinct emotion corresponded to a life form, then the count of lives here was astronomical!
Luna moved toward the direction originating from one specific surge of emotion.
It was much farther than she had anticipated.
Several thousand kilometers distant, there was a very wide, black rectangular cuboid. It differed from the other rectangular shapes surrounding it; this one was actively moving, its trajectory erratic.
"A life form."
That was the first seven-dimensional life Luna had encountered.
Though she still couldn't discern its complete physical structure.
But merely identifying its nature was sufficient for now.
"The life density around here isn't actually that high."
"Yet, I can perceive so many emotions. Perhaps emotions, much like gravity, possess an infinite range of effect."
"Or maybe it's because this is a dreamscape. A dreamscape is inherently a realm governed by consciousness, and emotions are a crucial component of that consciousness."
"This is getting more and more abstract. Does this reality truly harbor something as intangible as emotions?"
"Emotions might also be a specific form of energy; perhaps it is the energy autonomously released by consciousness itself."
This notion was counter-intuitive.
Just as ordinary individuals rarely recognize that their thoughts are fundamentally dictated by chemical and electrical impulses, even if they know this fact, they struggle to truly internalize it.
And now, a deeper theory suggested that consciousness actively guides the very psyche of life.
In fact, there's a crucial point: consciousness does not exist in isolation. It is actively emitted by life itself; it can be readily fragmented.
Independent consciousness, in a sense, is non-existent.
"Consciousness requires a physical medium to generate thought. It is precisely because my essence persists in three dimensions that I am able to interface with this dream world."
"Emotions, after all, are still released by my own physical form, generated by those electrical and chemical signals, releasing something undetectable that does not adhere to the four fundamental forces."
The four fundamental forces can only adequately explain known physical phenomena.
But this world encompasses more than just the physical.
"I can utilize this sensory input to navigate past these lives."
In reality, Luna was already feeling a growing desire to return to her own dimension.
The data she had acquired was already extensive.
But she still lacked the crucial mechanism for departure; every piece of information gained so far proved useless for exit.
This realization was profoundly disheartening.
Just as Luna was contemplating this, she suddenly perceived a cuboid approaching her from the distance.
And the dominant emotion released by that cuboid was pure, unadulterated anger.
Luna knew almost immediately, without needing confirmation, that it was targeting her.
"How was I exposed?"
Luna looked towards the enormous cubes surrounding her.
She realized she must have severely underestimated them.
If the seven-dimensional Civilization possessed any form of surveillance, then even if she avoided direct proximity to those seven-dimensional entities, she would still be detected.
This was because her own existence had already reached the seventh dimension; she had completed her internal dimensional ascent.
Run!
Luna activated her thruster and continued to fly.
But even at maximum output, her thruster could barely exceed 20 kilometers per second.
This speed was utterly insufficient when facing this opponent.
The opponent reached Luna in an instant. The vast wave of raw anger, sharp as a blade, threatened to pierce through Luna's own being.
Luna felt an intense, overwhelming danger.
The next moment, she felt a scorching sensation engulf her entire body, then she lost all consciousness, incinerated into fine ash.
Resist?
Escape?
Impossible!
Let alone her alone, even an entire fleet operating here would find it almost impossible to withstand this adversary.
That seven-dimensional being terminated her, then quickly departed. The surroundings immediately returned to silence, as if nothing significant had transpired.
And far in the distance.
A small, cluster-shaped object twitched faintly.
"Fortunately, I held something back; otherwise, I would truly have perished."
"My previous conjecture appears accurate: my initial self was destroyed because it completed its own dimensional ascent. Upon entering the dream world, it was immediately perceived by the seven-dimensional Civilization."
This was the current Luna.
Luna was imitating Metacellular.
In those years, there was nothing else she could truly pursue besides intense self-study.
Over a millennium of dedicated research allowed her to fully comprehend the composition of Metacellular and how it remained perpetually brimming with potent vitality.
Therefore, she had just engineered a Metacellular body, subsequently projecting segments of her own form outward.
This monumental feat was not achieved instantaneously; Luna had been meticulously preparing since her relentless earlier investigation.
Her objective was certainly not to simply wander through this constructed dream world. She needed to acquire critical information and then secure an exit; only then would she retain any significant value.
"No seven-dimensional Civilization will detect me, provided I maintain a sufficiently microscopic size."
"Unless they expend considerable resources by also maintaining deployments in the sub-Planckian, microscopic realm."
Luna then cultivated a minuscule eye for herself.
Turning it around, she surveyed her surroundings and immediately spotted countless microscopic rectangular cuboids.
"Blast it!"
Her adversary genuinely possessed deployments within the microscopic domain.
Although Luna could not ascertain the precise nature of these objects, making contact with any of them would undoubtedly result in a catastrophic outcome.
She began navigating between these cuboids in her current "interstellar" posture.
They were situated in close proximity but still maintained minute interstitial gaps.
While Luna's movements were highly agile for her current scale, she remained acutely vigilant. She was only evading the three-dimensional volume of these entities. This did not mean she evaded their seven-dimensional volume; even the slightest incidental contact risked triggering a chain reaction, resulting in her final demise.
However, Luna's intense apprehension seemed misplaced.
She traversed a considerable distance without observing a second seven-dimensional entity approaching to "harvest" her.
This, perhaps, indicated a deficiency in their system.
This was a dreamscape, after all, and a deliberately constructed one. A few execution glitches were perfectly normal.
After all, if an application could execute its primary function, who would bother investigating one or two faulty signals?
The immediate problem, however, was that Luna was currently too small, and her rate of movement was genuinely alarming.
It would take several hours just to traverse a distance of one meter.
This pace was truly glacial.
"Moving like this, I can only hope the opposition grants me sufficient time."
Luna had mentally prepared herself for a millennium-long heroic struggle. But after a thousand years, the dream world would likely achieve even greater perfection, and eventually, she would be detected.
...
An indeterminate span of time passed.
Luna sensed a profound emotion of anger manifesting in the distance.
She discovered that the sensation of anger comprised numerous distinct shades: indignant fury, bitter hatred, simple frustration…
And this particular wave of emotion she sensed was a unique form of helpless anger.
Luna experienced this specific feeling for the very first time. She resolved to cautiously approach the source of this emotion.
The journey took an extensive period, feeling akin to traversing uncountable spans of difficult terrain.
Upon finally reaching proximity, Luna could observe the source of the distress.
It was not another cuboid.
What she beheld was... Walton!
The distinct black-and-white panda coloration; no other Kirara possessed that marking, save for Walton.
It lay there motionless and silent, exuding no other discernible activity. The emotions emanating from it clearly suggested it had succumbed to despair.
Luna could intuitively grasp its circulating thoughts.
No one here had encountered the dream world before. Everything within this construct was utterly unknown to them, rendering any avenue for escape impossible.
Especially in such a completely desolate zone, utterly devoid of any palpable hope, a being's resolve could easily shatter. Even if that being happened to be a high-ranking member of a powerful Civilization.
Luna did not wait for Walton to sink further into desperation before offering assistance; she moved directly toward it, attaching herself onto its surface.
"Archon!"
Luna's voice was exceedingly faint. It wasn't that she was physically incapable of speaking louder, but rather that she was now existing in a seven-dimensional state, and any significant motion she made risked immediate detection.
At this precise moment, Walton's entire frame trembled. It scanned its surroundings, and then immediately plunged into even deeper despair.
"It seems I am experiencing a hallucination."
"I truly shouldn't have proceeded here directly, without fully grasping the precise operational status."
"My demise is a minor issue; the crucial element is that I failed to transmit information back to the Monarch. I have achieved absolutely nothing."
Walton was overwhelmed with regret. After hearing Luna's initial description of the dream world, it hadn't immediately relayed the data. This meant their expedition had accomplished nothing while needlessly sacrificing an entire fleet. For a being burdened with intense mission focus and responsibility, this realization was agonizing.
"You shouldn't be dwelling on regret here, Archon."
Luna's voice resonated again. Walton jolted, looking around once more, still failing to physically locate Luna.
"Perhaps it is not a hallucination after all. This realm is Yinka, so all my thoughts must have manifest reflections."
"Luna is the entity who understands Yinka most intimately. Here, presumably, only by locating her can there be any chance of survival."
Walton instantly formulated a rational explanation for hearing Luna's voice.
It seemed logical.
But this left Luna utterly speechless.
Too strong. The opponent's self-deception was formidable.
"I am not merely a product of your consciousness. I am located right here, upon your very form."
"I have now ascended to seven dimensions, encountered the adversary, and my original physical vessel has been annihilated. At this moment, I can only exist in this diminished manifestation."
"Archon, we must now devise a means to escape this location. No, escaping is likely too ambitious. At the very least, we must transmit the intelligence we have gathered here."
Luna directly revealed her current state. Walton's entire body trembled again. If it possessed observable goosebumps, they would have been shedding constantly by now.
Luna was on its body? What spectral phenomenon was this?
Fortunately, despite its severe disorientation, Walton retained its focus on strategic priorities.
It managed to ask, "Do you have an immediate strategy?"
"I know absolutely nothing concerning the parameters of this domain."
Luna instantly felt that locating Walton might, counter-intuitively, not have been the best decision after all.
She still needed to formulate a completely new approach.