Ragunna.
It was already late at night. This city on the water had sunk into silence, with only various soft lights spilling from street lamps and shop signs.
The bell tower at the very top of the main district rang out the midnight chimes.
"Good night, Ragunna."
Zani sat on the rooftop on the other side of the main district, drinking an energy drink while overlooking the night view of the entire city.
"Zani, why aren't you sleeping so late at night?"
Noah canceled his flight and landed steadily, sitting down beside Zani. The latter looked at him with surprised eyes, though the dark circles under them seemed even heavier in the night.
"There was too much work during the day, so I have some insomnia at night. Looking at Ragunna's scenery now is also a way to relax."
Zani shook her head listlessly and handed Noah a bottle of energy drink, asking casually:
"Prison Noah, why aren't you sleeping either?"
"Uh..."
Being asked this, Noah couldn't help feeling a bit guilty.
Because Leviathan's consciousness had escaped from the Threnodian gem, he was worried that Leviathan would invade the mental consciousness of the people in Rinascita again, so he came to check in the middle of the night.
But he definitely couldn't tell Zani the truth, so he could only make up an excuse:
"I slept enough during the day, so I don't need to sleep at night."
"Oh you! You came specifically to show off to me, didn't you?"
Zani first pretended to be angry and elbowed Noah's arm, then sighed again:
"You don't understand at all how hard it is for someone who can't sleep at night and still has to work the next day."
"Why not take a day off?"
"For full attendance."
These four words blocked all of Noah's comforting words.
Cows moo, horses neigh, Zani receives. She truly deserved to be the character released on Labor Day.
Noah pondered for a moment and remembered the Phrolova character he had just pulled today. He immediately introduced it to Zani:
"I have an ability that can help you sleep. Do you want to try it?"
"There's such an ability?" Zani was somewhat tempted but also suspicious:
"You won't do anything bad to me while I'm asleep, right?"
"What if I say I will?"
"You're joking again. You definitely won't."
Zani stood up excitedly:
"Come on, let's go back to my house and try your ability."
...
"Are you lying down properly?"
"I'm lying down properly."
"Then I'm going to start."
"Don't dawdle."
Zani changed into her pajamas and maintained a standard supine sleeping posture. Even her pair of demon horns were covered with pure cotton horn protectors.
Noah stood by the bed, switched to the Phrolova character, and attempted Modulation.
Everything in the world appeared before him as various mixed frequencies that he could alter at will.
In the past, Phrolova had used her ability to create clones, trigger The Lament's Void Plenilune, command Tacet Discord tides, release Red Spider Lily to spy on others, and more. It had many uses.
But for Noah, he simply lowered the restlessness of the frequencies in Zani's body, making them increasingly stable. Zani then sank into deep sleep as wished, letting out even breaths.
"Zani, wake up."
Noah called out tentatively. He only saw the frequency representing Zani's consciousness twitch before returning to calm.
"She's sleeping really deeply."
He rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
He was unsure whether Leviathan still had power now. If it did, would it harvest the spirits of Rinascita's people in their dreams?
If Leviathan could harvest spirits through dreams, then he would have to prepare in advance for a major decisive battle with Rinascita in version 2.7.
"Zani, I'll check your dream realm, okay? It's not intentional spying on your privacy. As compensation, I'll ask Little Potato to give you some time off later."
He wrapped a strand of his own frequency into Zani's consciousness. Noah closed his eyes and indeed saw Zani's dream realm.
In the dream realm was the towering Averardo Vault reaching into the clouds.
On the tall vault was a poster of Zani wearing an exquisite suit, with large text introducing her identity.
Zani Family Head.
"Good grief, Zani Family Head."
Noah shifted his view downward and finally saw Zani stepping on a red carpet and walking into the vault at the entrance. After she entered, a petite figure walked out the door and stood guard straight as a rod.
It was none other than Carlotta.
"Huh? Little Potato became a security guard?" Noah was dumbfounded.
Zani really dared to dream.
Noah suddenly became interested.
What would Zani, who became the boss, do in her dream?
With just a thought, his perspective shifted to the luxurious office at the top floor of the vault. The office was covered with award certificates.
"Outstanding Boss", "Best Striver Award", "Efficiency First Award", "Passionate Cultivation Award"...
Surrounded by countless awards, Zani was sitting at her workstation working. Beside her was a fully packed schedule.
Looking across, it was all overtime.
Outside the dream, Noah slapped his own forehead:
"Even sleeping and still working overtime? Haki Zani, you really are something."
While sighing, he also felt somewhat relieved.
It seemed that the Threnodian temporarily had no power to influence the people of Ragunna through nightmares.
...
The night ended and dawn arrived.
Order of the Deep.
Due to the incident of another Echo losing control two days ago, under the calls of the Ragunna public, the Order's doctrines had to be revised again.
Therefore, major and minor families represented by Montelli and Fisalia Family had once again come to the Order for a meeting.
"Another big meeting over some small matter. I should have let Zani attend in my place."
Carlotta sat in the dining hall, planning to return to her family after finishing this lunch hosted by the Order.
"Speaking of which, I haven't seen Tall Chestnut in a long time. I wonder what he's busy with?"
Thinking of this, Carlotta suddenly had an idea. She took out her terminal, photographed the food on the table, and sent the picture to Noah.
[Carlotta: Guess where I am? image.jpg]
In the photo was a large round table. Due to the Order's dining habits, there weren't many dishes—only a few placed in the center of the table.
The terminal remained silent for a while with no response.
"It's like this again... Busy, everyone's busy. Being busy is good..."
Carlotta let out a soft sigh. Suddenly the terminal vibrated. She quickly raised it again. Upon seeing that the sender was indeed Noah, her previously downcast mood instantly brightened.
[Noah: Little Potato, can you reach the dishes?]
"Huh?"
What is Tall Chestnut talking about?
Carlotta put down her terminal in surprise and looked at the dishes on the table.
It seemed... they were placed a bit far. Except for the closest few, she would have to stand up to reach the others.
[Carlotta: Yeah, it's a bit hard to reach. The Order people are really perfunctory. Never mind, I'll just make do with a simple meal.]
[Noah: I'll come pick you up. Let's go eat at another restaurant together.]
[Carlotta: Okay (^▽^)!]
...
Without the Weave, the connection between The Lost Beyond and the hidden sea testing ground was severed.
Phrolova found another remote city on the edge of Rinascita and used the violin that Noah had pointed out as the Weave to once again attempt to bring the beyond into reality.
Before the beyond could descend into reality, she could only let her family stay in the beyond a little longer.
It was a massive project. She worked hard for a full day and night. Only when her depleted energy needed recovery did she finally pull herself out of that numb busyness.
But as soon as she stopped, she couldn't help thinking about the person who had once helped her and hurt her.
She missed the times they helped others together, missed the choir performance in the square, missed the final rupture and the clash of blades... The memories fermented into bitterness, stabbing her heart with constant pain.
"Right! I haven't told him yet that the Grand Architect wants to make a move against him!"
As if remembering something, Phrolova became happy again—happy that she still had a topic to contact Noah about.
She took out her terminal, found Noah, typed many words in the message interface, deleted and revised them repeatedly. After struggling for a long time, she shortened it to one sentence and sent it.
A bright red exclamation mark immediately appeared.
[You are not the other party's friend. Please add them as a friend first!]
She stared blankly at these words, almost forgetting to breathe. Her lips unknowingly turned pale from biting until a rusty taste filled her mouth.
Putting down the terminal, she picked up her staff again and threw herself back into the work of bringing the beyond into the present world.
A handful of Red Spider Lily was scattered by her. The petals drifted with the wind, unknown where they would land.
On the other side.
"I recently gained a new Modulation ability that lets me see other people's dream realms when they sleep. Zani had insomnia yesterday and asked me for help. Guess what I saw."
In a corner of Trattoria Margherita, Noah and Carlotta sat facing each other, sharing their recent experiences. Of course, most of it was Noah talking:
"I saw her working overtime even in her dreams."
"You really need to give her a raise."
"Other people work five years and only have five years of experience, but when Zani works five years, she has ten years of experience!"
...