I always wonder why mortals so fondly use the word "dream" to equate with the deepest, most secret desires of their hearts.

  But thinking it over, it makes a certain amount of sense. Reality is inherently brutal, making the dream realm the only sanctuary where they can hide from the waking world, a place to achieve the very things their feeble selves could never accomplish.

  But for us deities, dreams and reality are no different from a stack of year-end financial reports. Even in our sleep, we cannot escape our own reality. The fleeting, whimsical dreams of mankind are such an absolute luxury to gods that we never have the privilege of experiencing them. A deity's dream, at the end of the day, is nothing more than an incredibly tedious, pre-designed Mindscape.

  So, do gods truly know how to dream?

  "Tsk, why am I suddenly having an existential crisis right now?"

  I rap my knuckles against my own head, flicking my tail lightly through the air to scatter those stray thoughts. My consciousness is momentarily dragged away by that train of thought. Truly dangerous. This Mindscape gives off an incredibly indescribable vibe. Is my own consciousness actually degrading to this extent?

  I snap out of my inner monologue, focusing my attention back on Kaito, Yusei, and Nanao, who are cautiously scouting the street ahead. If we did not already know this is a Mindscape, absolutely no one would be able to tell this place apart from the real Akihabara.

  Everything laid out before our eyes is authentic and vividly detailed to the extreme. From the signature scent of ozone and electronics wafting out of the secondhand shops, and the flickering neon signs, right down to the crowds of otakus wandering the streets in all sorts of bizarre outfits. The sheer vitality of this place radiates an alarmingly realistic aura, even though I know damn well that not a single soul in this crowd actually exists.

  Kaito, driven by his usual boundless curiosity, even has the nerve to walk right up and strike up a conversation with the greeter standing outside a manga shop.

  "Can a Mindscape really recreate details right down to the mole on a retail worker's face?"

  "Take a closer look, kid," Yusei says, standing nearby. He squints at a poster plastered on the window glass and clicks his tongue. "The text looks like a bunch of squirming tapeworms."

  Nanao strolls casually through the crowd, his tail swishing back and forth. He literally floats right past the faces of several pedestrians, but not a single one reacts, even if their eyes happen to drift in his direction.

  "These guys can see a deity and do not even flinch?" Nanao snorts, his claws lightly scratching the empty air. "With this level of cognitive response, they must be nothing but projections."

  "Projections of real world humans, Nanao bro? Like NPCs?" Yusei asks with curiosity, his finger pushing up the bridge of his glasses.

  "Yeah, something like that. The system automatically generates them just to fill up the space. These guys are strictly background dressing."

  "Careful now," I point my finger toward a CD stall a short distance away. "That crazy lady over there is definitely not an NPC."

  All eyes instantly lock onto a middle-aged woman screaming her lungs out, her face flushed red as she violently slams her hand on the counter, endlessly demanding to see the manager to file a complaint.

  "With that trademark 'center of the universe' attitude, she is a real human, alright," I smirk.

  "She is..." Kaito stammers, looking bewildered.

  "Just one of the candidates passionately participating in the 'Diary of Dreams' event out there in the real world," Yusei deduces, a look of pure disgust plastered on his face.

  Nanao stands there observing for a moment. His ears twitch wildly, and his whiskers quiver in clear distress. "Boss, something feels incredibly wrong with the temperaments of these people. Are there really this many insufferable jerks out in the real world?"

  I narrow my eyes at the passing crowd. Human society has always been a mixed bag anyway. Having a slightly unbearable personality is nothing out of the ordinary, right?

  "Nanao, cut the chatter. Extract the data for me," I order, smoothing my palms over the sleeves of my suit vest. "Run a scan to see exactly how many real human consciousnesses are lingering around this area, excluding those mindless projections."

  "Roughly two to three thousand real people, Boss," he reports, his voice trembling slightly. "But if we count the mob of projection NPCs placed here just to make the scenery look lively, the total easily reaches a few million."

  A few million is definitely a massive crowd, but they are only concentrated within a specific limit. This replica of Akihabara looks vast and bustling, but if you just run a short distance out of the central district, the illusion is bound to shatter. A mortal's consciousness inherently has its boundaries, so this Mindscape cannot keep expanding forever. Since it cannot spread too thin, this urban sprawl is likely the absolute boundary of the Mindscape. Once we locate the borders, uncovering the underlying rules is just a matter of time.

  I give my snow-white tail a little wave, signaling the whole gang to gather in a blind spot behind a vending machine that is emitting a busted, crackling hum.

  "Alright, do you kids still remember what I told you back on the vessel?" I ask, my eyes never leaving the horde of NPCs casually strolling down the street.

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  "Yes, Itsuki-sama!" Kaito straightens his back, looking as dead serious as a student about to step into a final exam. "The Mindscape has an automated defense mechanism to suppress the consciousness of foreign entities like ourselves. However, this defense mechanism only truly activates the moment we actively try to locate and seize the 'Core'. Therefore, we need to play the part of NPCs extremely carefully unless we want to get purged by the Mindscape."

  "Someone did their homework," Nanao clicks his tongue in praise, though his ears keep twitching on high alert. "But make sure to keep an eye on those projections. The Mindscape has the ability to spy on us through this mob of NPCs."

  Yusei narrows his eyes at a bespectacled guy idly flipping through a magazine nearby. His voice drips with genuine concern. "Are these NPCs really that dangerous? Please do not tell me they are going to gang up and jump us."

  Nanao shrugs, his claws lightly scraping against the metal casing of the vending machine. "They are essentially an extension of the Mindscape's consciousness. They are quite sensitive to anomalies."

  "Huh? A Mindscape can actually possess a consciousness?" Kaito widens his eyes in sheer astonishment.

  "Theoretically, it is nowhere near the level to be classified as an independent consciousness," I interject, my hands casually adjusting my suit collar to keep it looking sharp. "But its Mindscape structure is already nearly on par with that of a deity. If we just leave this thing alone to gather strength, it could very well evolve into a lower tier god."

  "Ah, I get it now!" Kaito claps his hands together, looking like he just had a massive epiphany. "So these projections are exactly like those creepy monsters running on their hands inside your..."

  "AHEM!" I clear my throat as loudly as possible, brutally cutting the kid off before he can spill all the embarrassing garbage hidden inside my head. "Focus on the mission, kids. We are on the clock here, not on some middle school picnic, so cut the gossip. This Akihabara Mindscape is not the only problem waiting for us to process."

  Noticing his boss's bizarre reaction, Yusei leans right up to Kaito's ear and whispers, "Hey kid, what the heck is a monster running on its hands? Why is the boss getting so incredibly defensive?"

  I give the brat absolutely zero chance to run his mouth any further, immediately grabbing Kaito by the collar and dragging him away.

  "Move, let us get moving. We still need to rapidly decode the logic of this Mindscape. I will go scout the perimeter first. Nanao, you and Yusei stay put in this sector. Scour every single nook and cranny and figure out its operational rules for me."

  Hearing this, Nanao's face instantly drops, his ears flattening entirely against the back of his head. He whines with a voice full of suffocating grievance: "Oh come on, Boss! You are way better at these puzzle games than I am! You are the captain, so how come you are just dumping all the actual work onto your underlings?"

  I halt my steps, turning back to look at him with an intensely exaggerated look of disappointment, letting out a heavy, dramatic sigh.

  "Sigh... It is just one teeny tiny Mindscape, and you seriously cannot figure out the pattern? No wonder after all this time, out of everyone in Depar 1031, only Mr. Zhou has the sheer competence to sit in the Vice Leader's chair. Oh, if only Zhou Jianran were here right now. Things would be so much easier, and I would not be getting this massive headache."

  "What did you just say?!" Nanao jumps three feet into the air as if someone just stomped on his tail, every single hair on his body bristling. "Are you saying I am worse than that bastard deer? Fine! Just you wait and see! I am going to find that godforsaken Core before you even reach the end of this street!"

  Watching Nanao aggressively drag Yusei away to start the search, I let out a soft, inward chuckle. It is the oldest trick in the book, but it literally never fails.

  I grab Kaito by the collar, completely ignoring the fact that the kid has not even processed what is happening, and kick off the ground, launching us high into the air. Behind us, Nanao's muffled screams of utter indignation slowly fade away, completely swallowed by the howling wind. That little taunt might have been slightly overkill, but I would much rather have that feline deity fuming with rage and actually getting work done than sitting around whining to his boss.

  We blast out of the bustling central district, gliding over the high rise rooftops of Akihabara. In the blink of an eye, the dazzling urban scenery begins to thin out, leaving only a few scattered buildings. And then, finally, absolutely nothing is left.

  Beneath our feet lies an endless, stark white plane, squeaky clean and utterly devoid of detail. This flat expanse stretches infinitely all the way to the horizon. Even when I reach out my hand to probe the area, I cannot detect a single trace of a barrier. This setup is incredibly tricky. If we fail to crack it, these rookie Sensitives could very easily wind up trapped in here for all eternity.

  "Hey, Itsuki-sama," Kaito suddenly speaks up. "Do you actually remember the exact moment we set foot in here? Because the transition felt identical to when I dived into your dreamscape the other day."

  "Nope, I am in the exact same boat as you. I just opened my eyes and found myself standing right in the middle of the city." I smirk, my claws tightening slightly around the fabric of the kid's jacket. "But you are absolutely right. This place is not much different from my own Mindscape at all."

  I cast my memory back to the exact moment our vessel collided with that colossal structure outside. The very split second our metallic hull grazed the boundary of the Mindscape, this fabricated "Akihabara" reality automatically hijacked the senses of our entire group.

  Kaito stares blankly around this blindingly white space, wearing the completely dazed expression of a tourist hopelessly lost in the Sahara. The kid starts rubbing his temples, his voice dripping with sheer exhaustion.

  "But... Itsuki-sama, do you actually have a clue what we are supposed to do next? You told them to go find the rules and the Core, but how are we supposed to find anything when we are completely blind here? There is no tutorial, not even a single damn signpost."

  "Hehe," I let out a chuckle, my ears flicking sharply with sheer amusement. "Please do not tell me you were genuinely waiting for a floating quest log to pop up in front of your face?"

  "I have no idea what fancy tricks the other deities use to crack these labyrinths," I say, crossing my arms, my tail swishing back and forth with utter smugness. "But I personally possess a secret ultimate technique. The moment I unleash it, even the central Mindscape itself will be forced to expose its true colors."

  Kaito's eyes instantly light up, as if he has just achieved true enlightenment. The kid leans forward, his voice overflowing with pure admiration.

  "That is insanely cool! So you actually possess a hidden ultimate skill that allows you to see right through the underlying mechanics of this world?"

  I clear my throat, flashing my fangs in a wickedly sinister grin. "That is exactly right. My ultimate technique is simply known as..."

  "...Trial and Error."

  "Come again?" The bright smile on Kaito's lips instantly freezes over. The kid blinks rapidly, desperately waiting for me to correct myself with a much cooler sounding skill name. "What the heck... Why does that not sound like an overpowered skill at all?"

  "Well, what did you expect? A magical 'auto complete quest' ability?" I give the kid a condescending pat on the shoulder. "This is a professional trade skill, not some cheat power dropping out of the sky. Knowing exactly where to 'try' and how to appropriately 'error' is a mastery paid for with hundreds of years of blood, sweat, and tears."