Wende remained completely oblivious... or perhaps, he had no way of being aware. He was utterly ignorant of the massive event the players in the real world were about to orchestrate.

At this moment, he was still directing two individuals of supreme intellect to move the components of the Matrix of Prescience.

"A little to the left... more to the left... now to the right, yes..."

"Sigh..."

Wende heaved a long sigh, slowly walked over to March 7th's side, and helped her adjust the array component in her hands. Then, with a "refreshed and vigorous" look, he turned to Qingque, whose Jade Abacus had been confiscated.

"How many more do we have?"

"Uh... Ah? Oh, this is the last one. We can go back now!"

Even with her Jade Abacus taken away, Qingque, ever the master of zoning out to slack off, looked at the correctly positioned array piece. She counted the previously assembled ones and nodded at Wende.

"Ah, finally, we can rest!"

March 7th plopped directly onto the ground and began to slack off. Not only did they have to fly around, but they also had to fight those Abominations of Abundance and then arrange the puzzle pieces! It was exhausting!

"Ahem..."

Wende politely turned his head and gave March a little reminder.

He himself had to constantly keep an eye on Stelle to make sure she didn't mess with the boxes next to the arrays. It was tiring, yes, but now was not the time to hit the "give up" button!

"Mmph..."

Realizing her behavior was rather ungraceful, March stood back up.

"Hm?"

Stelle scratched her head, a little confused.

"Sigh, you're still young. You'll understand when you're older," Wende said with great understanding as he patted Stelle's head.

"Er... okay."

Stelle nodded blankly. What on earth was Wende talking about?

"Alright... let's go..."

Just as Wende was about to tell everyone to return to the core of the Matrix of Prescience, he found that Stelle, March, and the listless Qingque had all frozen in place, as if time had been paused.

"Sigh."

Looking at the familiar system panel before him, Wende sighed helplessly.

"It's never anything good when you show up. Let me guess, you want me to create my own Light Cone? Right?"

Although he knew the system panel wouldn't respond, Wende started chatting with it anyway.

As expected, the system panel's interface was indeed prompting him to create a five-star Light Cone template.

However, this time, the time limit had changed from one hour for the four-star template to twenty-four hours.

Looking at the attributes on the template, Wende decisively sat cross-legged on the ground and began to ponder.

The last time he built the four-star template, he had been too careless, which gave the system a chance to auto-complete the settings... This time, he had to complete his own settings fully to prevent the system from adding more troublesome details for him!

The thought filled Wende with another wave of regret.

He had taken a shortcut for convenience before, allowing the system to fill in most of his background. While there were still some minor discrepancies, if Wende wanted to continue building Light Cones, he had to follow the pre-established background.

This meant that Wende was already being led by the nose by the system's backstory. And in the end, it was all his own fault for cutting corners and being lazy...

"This is bad... I can't possibly activate the annals of time to change the past settings, can I?"

Wende scratched his head in frustration. Putting aside whether it would affect his Favorability value, if he could do it and actually did, the massive information discrepancy would inevitably cause a firestorm of drama in the real world! If his public perception took a nosedive then... he'd be totally screwed.

Fortunately, the system had given him plenty of time on this occasion.

Wende's well-defined fingers swiped back and forth across the system panel.

"Hm?"

His brow furrowed as if he had discovered something.

"Companion... Mission?"

Wende slowly read out the two words, his eyes gradually brightening.

That was it. He was still lacking too many things. Companion Missions were one of the most important ways for players to understand a character! How could he have forgotten that!

"A five-star character... a five-star Light Cone... plus a Companion Mission... what else is missing?"

Wende rubbed his temples, his head feeling swollen with thoughts.

"Sigh..."

Sighing helplessly once more, Wende simply lay down on the floor of the Matrix of Prescience...

Oh, my apologies.

Wende said apologetically to Stelle, then shifted his position before lying down.

Gazing at the colorful streams of light flowing above in the Matrix of Prescience, Wende narrowed his eyes in contemplation.

One hour... two hours... four hours...

Wende lay motionless on the spot, still conceptualizing.

Right now, he was like an author stuck in a bottleneck, unable to proceed. He knew where the exit to the bottleneck was, but it was blocked by a stubborn cap.

At the twelfth hour, with more than half the deadline passed, Wende finally sat up from the ground. His gaze fell upon the system panel. He pulled it closer and began to type something, bit by bit.

"Yes... that's it. If I flesh out the background story to a specific chapter... and fill in some riddles here..."

Thoughts flashed through Wende's mind. The memories granted by the four-star Light Cone flashed back wildly in his head. Why... why couldn't he just make the five-star Light Cone a continuation of the four-star one?

Why must he remain shackled to the past, instead of looking to the future? The future... was limitless!

Twenty hours later, having finished setting the Light Cone's background and attributes, and having perfected his own character backstory and Companion Mission, Wende collapsed onto the ground as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

Sweat beaded on his temples, but he was smiling happily. His chest heaved up and down, as if he had just run a thousand-meter dash...

He lifted his hands, "holding" the array in the sky above him. Wende brought his fingers together, clenching them into a fist.

"This time! I have personally taken control of my own future! I am no longer passively constrained by the system's background!"

Wende smiled with confidence. From this day forward, there would be no more superfluous dreams. From now on, he would forget the past and advance in the direction he most desired.

And this very image—of Wende lying on the ground, his left hand reaching for the sky, a confident smile on his lips—was used by Wende himself as the cover art for the Light Cone. He gave it a name...

The Road Extending Toward the Future

"If you are still lost in the fog of the past, then why not cast your gaze forward? Rather than being shackled by a history you cannot comprehend, why not explore the mysterious and beautiful future! Wende's confusion is but a passing cloud; what awakens now is the spirit of Trailblazing and a brand new future!

—To be able to walk this path alongside all of you... is my greatest honor. by Wende"