Online Relationships are Risky

Dreams are truly wonderful things. No matter how much you mess around in a dream, most of the time, it won't affect reality.

Just like how even if Twilight now used her own power to obliterate Sunday within this Dream of Unity [Ena], it wouldn't cause any change to the worldline. After all, illusory things cannot affect reality—at least, not before the Dream of Unity [Ena] merges with reality or encountering a fictional historian.

Originally, the power difference between Twilight and Sunday was already vast. Coupled with the Dream of Unity [Ena] conforming to the dream owner's wishes, her defeating him with the added buffs was easier than chopping vegetables. But the problem was, what came after?

Twilight certainly couldn't just wake Caelus up directly, tell him this was the Dream of Unity [Ena], then give him a bunch of power and blessings to defeat Sunday. After all, doing so would leave too large an impact on the worldline.

In smaller places like Jarilo-VI, she could intervene slightly; after all, such backwater, weak planets basically couldn't significantly affect the world, so even if she interfered a little, history wouldn't change much.

But Penacony and Sunday were different. A conflict involving the Paths of Harmony and Order—if she brazenly interfered again, history would have a stress reaction. This was based on her experience, because she had actually tried it while AFK.

So, both logically and emotionally, Twilight could only guide Caelus, letting him find a way to defeat Sunday in reality using his existing power... Or more accurately, rely on her past self to defeat Sunday. After all, in that situation, only her past self could resolve the opponent, and Twilight remembered the plot indeed developed that way.

But before that, it didn't stop her from pulling some maneuvers to NTR her past self a little...

After all, her past self was NTR'd by her future self. If she didn't NTR back now, wouldn't she have been NTR'd for nothing?!

Anyway, let's just spend a few decades with Caelus in the dream first. Conveniently, the Dream of Unity [Ena] had everything; might as well treat it as a vacation.

Leveraging her power's connection to the Dream of Unity [Ena], Twilight easily figured out the kind of life Caelus dreamed of and tailor-made his desired future for him.

But she had to admit, although Caelus seemed ridiculous usually, and the things he did were quite abstract, his dream ultimately turned out surprisingly pure—he just wanted to have a hearty Trailblaze journey with everyone on the Express, experience a magnificent and exciting life, then find an idyllic planet with Twilight and Dabai, and live a peaceful life.

Honestly, for this dream of Caelus's, Twilight would give it a ten—specifically for the peaceful life part at the end.

The dream spanned several decades. The first half was filled with the adventure stories Caelus wanted to experience, which Twilight found uninteresting.

During those boring stretches, her mind, ever the "bad woman," would occasionally drift to considering various extreme strategies to maximize emotional payload.

One particularly absurd idea involved weaponizing a baby—conceive one with the Target, then arrange a tragic double-kill scenario where Target discovers her pregnancy right as she dies, ideally in his arms. That would surely send Target spiraling into profitable despair!

But no, babies were sacred, not tools. Even her bad woman standards (admittedly a bit flexible) drew the line there. Besides, she was firmly child-free. Thankfully, Caelus's dream didn't veer into anything that messy.

The latter half of his dream was the retirement life Caelus yearned for: doing whatever he wanted each day, no chaos, no conflict, playing games while sipping tea under the porch of a cabin in the wilderness, occasionally meeting a few friends for fun, with no worries or stress carrying over to the next day.

She had to say, this kid Caelus had some taste, understanding that simplicity is true happiness. What was so good about running around the galaxy with your head on the line? Compared to fighting over Paths and ascending to godhood, wasn't a peaceful life more appealing?!

Although Caelus's dream behavior of "I want both Twilight and Dabai!" made Twilight want to retort, "You can't even get one living one," since it was a dream, Twilight could only let Caelus dream something nice first.

After all, she also got to enjoy a rare period of peace. Even after all this "time," decades spent in close proximity within the dream, a flicker of curiosity about... that... might have sparked in her in her long life (read as old hag).

but she had a feeling that if she crossed the forbidden line even though it was just a dream, Twilight felt that she would get something very bad in the future!

It was also thanks to Caelus not being some old pervert in his dreams; otherwise, Twilight would have regrettably abandoned the vacation and kicked him awake first.

Apart from that, this dream is very beautiful and is a benchmark for the good peaceful life that she dreams of.

Unfortunately, dreams eventually end.

Even if Twilight loved the peaceful life in the dream, illusion was still illusion. Such a peaceful life relied simultaneously on the Star Rail world, Sunday, and Caelus. An accident in any corner would cause her peaceful life to collapse instantly—and such an unstable foundation meant the peaceful life wasn't truly peaceful.

Still have to continue finding ways to enhance her own strength, stabilize the surrounding environment, and create a peaceful life with her own hands... And for that, Caelus, please trouble yourself to become the stepping stone on my path to a peaceful life!

Looking at Caelus, still immersed in the dream, face full of happiness, Twilight resolutely took out the fairytale book and popped his dream bubble.

A Trailblaze journey covering half the galaxy side-by-side, plus decades of patient companionship day after day—such a long time, Twilight was confident even iron could be ground into an embroidery needle, let alone Caelus's heart.

Caelus might question why she spent such a long time in this dream, but Twilight had her reasons too—Seeing you looking so down after being defeated by Sunday, worried you might not get over it, so specially used this dream to help you change your mood. Perfectly reasonable, right?

Besides, she had already spent hundreds of millions of years running around for the Express crew before this. Couldn't she take a little break now? Although she was AFK while working, she could be present herself while resting!

Besides, the rest is over now. Isn't she about to continue working and hit the road again?

But first, Caelus's memories needed processing. Otherwise, returning with decades of memories, Twilight worried he might not even know how to fight Sunday anymore. And the power maintaining this memory seal would likely disappear after her death, at which point Caelus would recall everything simultaneously—so many complex memories and emotions intertwined, Twilight couldn't even imagine how bountiful the harvest would be this time.

And now, let Caelus return to the real world first and go through the plot process with his Twilight—Whoa, why isn't this guy letting go?!

"I can't do anything, Dabai... Without you, I'm no match for him!"

"Mm, I also wish you could hold my hand, Caelus... But at this moment, the hand you should hold isn't mine."

Looking at Caelus before her, face full of sorrow, yet gripping her hand unwilling to let go, Twilight felt a faint ache in her stomach.

Although he seemed to be asking her to deal with Sunday now, hence holding her hand tightly, for some reason, Twilight had a vague sense of unease, as if he wasn't letting go because of Sunday, but simply because he didn't want to let go of her, didn't want her to separate from him in this dream.

Surely not? Spending decades in this dream, she hadn't noticed Caelus was such a heavy guy... Or was it just because she hadn't tried separating from him during these decades?

Sigh, illusion, illusion, definitely all illusions. Dreams just amplify emotional fluctuations...

Silently strengthening the seal on Caelus's dream-related memories, Twilight made up her mind. Later, she would first travel back to when Caelus just arrived in Penacony and properly remind him that everything in dreams is fake, one must face reality properly...