Dream ∞ 005 ∞ How is this world changing?
Washu could be seen surrounded by a number of 3D holographic models of people, both from her world and Somarium. Next to the models are numerous holographic screens of various sizes with data streaming on them
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But dreams powering the Dreamberry? Intriguing, I never thought of it like that. You might be on to something. Looks like I'll have to study the device again.
And yes, I've noticed that similarity as well. In fact I am also from an alternate 'Japan', and the notion of alternate worlds or universes isn't quite as far-fetched as it may seem. Particularly when we have the proof walking and talking right before our eyes. But that is strange for most to be from an alternate 'Japan'...I'll have to look into that some more.
While your theory on the population might be partially correct, it does seem that the number is still growing. It has seemed to reach a certain point where it's "stabilized", a range of 190 ~ 220. It's been fluctuating in this range for a while now, yet for the number that disappears within a given month, more people arrive. [realizes something] And there is usually a point in time when those who have not really been seen around just vanish. Little 'activity' if you will.
[typing as she talks] I'll have to create a chart, but it seems that at least every month, those who do not dream are removed. This is not true for everyone, of course, for those who have dreamed many a time are also removed, but those leave at more random intervals.
A connection...? [muses for a bit]
As for your question, powers in general are toned down to a degree. Or rather, it seems there is a sort of 'power cap'. It may also depend on the ability, but some are even removed or sealed away completely.
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Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? I can't take the credit for that proposal, though. One of those vocaloids in cyberspace tipped me off, actually. But I've been disassembling and reassembling the dreamberry thing, and I can't recognize the power source, so... we may be onto something there? And what if the dreams power other things too? Like... the magic that restocks the shops and keeps the stuff from decay, or maybe the castle floating?
... So you're from that 'Japan' place, huh. Just out of curiosity, have you heard of a Kohaku River at all? And do you... add weird things to the ends of people's names? Like... -chan, or -san, or whatever?
Really? That's interesting... I haven't been around long enough to realize a pattern in that, so... But there are close to 200 residents here at all time? I wonder if that's the max sustainability range, of it the number has some kind of a purpose, or something. But the dreaming thing... Maybe those who can't provide fuel to keep this world running are considered useless and are kicked out to free up sustainable resources for someone who can contribute-
[...!!!] ... Just throwing this out there, but maybe the purpose of gathering all these random people from different worlds is to generate dreams that'd fuel the existence of this pocket dimension?
... I guess I should have made my question clearer, then. I mean- for example, in my world, we manipulate a substance called 'Aer' to cast magics. Someone from another world called 'Auldrant' uses 'Fonons'. The existence of both fonons and aer on one dimensional plane contradicts in the very essence of those two substances, so... Has there been a theory proposed yet in why we're able to work both types of magic?
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The Vocaloids...the ones who sing those songs, correct? Hm...it's very interesting thought. I have yet to figure out a way to track the dreams. They are stored somewhere, I'm sure of it! I just don't know where, how, or why. [musing~] But you proposal makes some sense. From what I heard, this world used to be abandoned and it was in a rather deteriorated state, much different from today.
But once people started to appear and dream...[thinkthinkthink] If I remember correctly, this world was actually recently restored from an earthquake that had occurred as well as some kind of monster invasion. Unfortunately I cannot track if these occurrences happened between the time the original inhabitants disappeared and when we appeared, but I do have to wonder if our presence also started those as well. I cannot say for sure but it is a possibility. All I do know is that such events much have occurred before.
As for the population, that's a plausible theory. If my charts are correct, it took it some time to actually reach the 100 mark and fluctuated there for a bit before finally growing again. It's quite possible the same could happen here. We'll have to see in a few months if these 'cycles' keep up.
And to fuel the world...that's quite a possibility. The selection is still random, but that would explain a few things. If only I knew the actual make-up of this world! We don't even know how far it stretches. For all we know, other cities could be somewhere out there.
[muses over her question] I see. It may be due to this world's own magical components. Perhaps it's adapting or serving as a sort of replacement for what your powers would normally need.
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As in, you can't track them down at all? Why don't you ask the Vocaloids, then? They seem to have this whole dream thing down pretty nicely. There was this green-haired one that told me she lived in the Cyberspace - and I'm guessing that she can access all the dreams from there. It wouldn't hurt to give her a call.
Maybe, the coming and going of foreign material upsets the balance? The rejection of the foreign material may lead to backlashes, but the essence of the fact being that we are fueling the world? ... I wonder if there's a way to just stop people from dreaming entirely for a short while. If no one contributes, it's either the world itself collapses, the world brings in fresh blood, or we're all kicked back to our own worlds so that this one can rebuild itself on a fresh slate.
I'm going to guess that people have ventured past the barriers. They're all idiots if they haven't, really. But I'm also going to guess that they didn't get very far. What's known about what's beyond so far?
... And that was just what I was going to propose, actually. Glad that we're on the same wavelength. Yeah, I was thinking that all the very base substances from our individual worlds share a common ancestor of a sort, and that ancestor is prevalent in this world. Like a stem cell. And it adapt and changes to fit the properties of the magics that a caster needs. To prove the existence of this substance though, I'd need a whole row of casters from different worlds blasting the living daylights out of random objects, and testing the differential lag between spells-
[Aaaaand she's off the deep end. :/ If you hung up now, she probably wouldn't even notice.]
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Hmmm I might just take you up on that suggestion. They do seem to have a closer connection with the Overlord herself.
To ask someone to not dream would be the same as trying to ask them to not breathe. Dreams are usually involuntary with little to no control on when or how you dream. While it is true we have some control over our dreams, the mind will still convey those images. Though there is also something I thought peculiar. Not every dream is broadcasted, in fact only those of strong emotion, memory, or the will to be shown are actually displayed over the network. I have a feeling that those specific dreams must hold a lot more importance than the others. Otherwise, we would be seeing a lot more dreams from everyone than we do now. A kind of filter perhaps...?
So far I've only heard about the desert and some kind of town several days out. What it's purpose was and why it was there is still a mystery, though I'm sure it will hold clues. The same way as the tunnels.
[amused~ in fact she's listening quite intently] Sounds like a fascinating experiment. It would probably help if you had some monitors to store the data and better track how the magic is working.
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Yeah. She mentioned that the Overlord was her 'master', for all that's supposed to mean. At the very least, they have an interesting connection, and only idiots wouldn't take advantage of that.
Yeah, but, you seemed to project your consciousness just fine. I was pretty convinced that your dream was a voice post, until I saw the floating pillows. Unless, you know, you really do have floating pillows it was a voice post that you were masquerading as a dream, but you don't strike me as particularly tasteless. Besides, breathing and dreaming are hardly metaphors. I don't think it's been proven yet that dreaming is a requirement of living. So while asking for people not to breathe would be absurd - if we can figure out the reason for dreams, I'll bet that there'd be a scientific way to suppress it for at least long enough for a hypothesis to be tested out.
... But that's interesting. I've never thought about it that way, with the hypothetical filter. ... This is going to sound unscientific, but maybe the stronger the emotions, the more efficient the fuel? Maybe it's not just the dreams, but also the emotions that are also collected? I don't see a way that someone can just... fuel a world on emotions, but, I don't know, I can just write off the possibility. But if that's the case, it's not just the dreams that we'd have to worry about - we might have to send everyone in Somarium into a dreamless state of sleep to test... [Mumble mumble rant rant scribble]
Then the first order of business should be scouting out our boundaries further. And the next- monitors to store the data? Now that's an idea. Though blastia are more than capable of the job, a little help wouldn't be too bad.
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Ah, but that was because I was concentrating~ And yes, it was a dream, though the setting is an exact copy of my lab. Only I have three pillows here instead of five. As for my analogy, I only compared them in the sense of involuntary actions. You could try to to stop dreaming, but the chance of actually dreaming is a lot higher as your mind will have had more activity before falling asleep. Then again, given the 'mechanics' of this world, it might prove otherwise. The only way to best know or rather resolve this problem is to take a few volunteers and monitor their sleeping patterns; observe the mental activity.
I considered the possibility of emotions, but that seemed a little odd as well. Most residents average about one or two dreams to be broadcasted a month. I would think that during that time they would have a bit more 'emotional' dreams. Usually you won't just have one, particularly if there's been a bad incident. [pause] Though...there are the broadcasting filters. It might be possible that even if they aren't broadcasted they are still be collected somewhere, we just do not know about them.
...But then that brings us back to why we can only see those specific dreams.
[piqued interest is piqued] Blastia?
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