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OS: Chapter 216
🕑 Added 2021-04-06 07:39:41 +0000 UTCSeeing the notification pop up, Dream was surprised. He also noticed that the notification came from Sophia, not the system.
[[Summons From Another World] will be evolved.]
[Primary components will be specialized.]
[Cutting external connection...]
[Modifying existing skill... Allocating space...]
[Complete.]
[Generating the Passive Skill: [Catalog]]
[Generating the Active Skill: [Dimensional Tunneling]]
[Generating the Active skill: [Arcane Transmu----------
[Fuck off! I can handle a skill bestowal by myself, dammit!]
Suddenly, Sophia roared angrily and cut off the notifications. Dream chuckled.
"You good?"
[Ugh! Yes! We're going to do this my way! Alright! Generating the skills.]
Saying that, Sophia channeled energy and began the process of building the skills. Through her, Dream could sense the data streaming in for those skills. While he couldn't tell where it came from, he did know it was his Title. That thing had always been super involved with his evolutions.
Soon, the three new skills were built by Sophia and integrated with the preexisting summons skill that had split into pieces. After rearranging the strings for a bit, three new skills were fully formed while the summons skill disappeared. However, she didn't plan to stop there.
[Okay, you've got three new skills. [Dimensional Tunneling], [Arcane Transmutation], and [Catalog]. They're the skills that comprised the summons skill. Now, I hope you don't mind another skill evolution.]
"Of course not."
[Good, cause it's happening. I'm throwing [Catalog] into your mind space since it's an information storage type skill, and the other two skills... Well, I'm actually not entirely sure. Take a look, and then give me your thoughts.]
Saying that, Sophia wrote lines of script in Dream's mind space. Within that script contained complex data on the two new skills. Dream quickly processed it all.
"Huh, so [Dimensional Tunneling] is an Aether manipulation technique for spatial travel. And [Arcane Transmutation]... A way to create matter from mana..."
Dream's eyes went wide when he saw the details of the skill. He knew the summons skill was mysterious, being able to eat up some mana in exchange for physical objects, but he had eventually forgotten about it since he practically never used it anymore. But now, he was being given the true form of the skill, and [Arcane Transmutation] was easily the most complex but significant part of it.
And it wasn't because it could create matter from mana. That part didn't matter to him much. It was the fact that matter and mana were inextricably linked, and this skill was the first step to proving that fact and utilizing it.
"With this... we might be able to figure out how they cooperate with each other. Like the Keeper. His star, a physical object, was able to magically power him. Matter can affect mana... Wait, but what's your dilemma?"
Before Dream drifted off into thought, he turned his attention back to Sophia's query.
[I'm unsure of where to integrate these skills. [Dimensional Tunneling] can go under [Arcana], but [Arcane Transmutation] could go under both [Arcana] and [Particle Manipulation]. In fact, it should be a combination of both.]
"Hmm... You know, I don't think we should integrate it. Integrate [Dimensional Tunneling] into [Arcana], but leave [Arcane Transmutation] alone."
[Why?]
"Because we know nothing about it. Let's study it first before doing anything with it. I'm sure its complexity rivals [Arcana] anyway, so it may not be something we should put under another skill."
[Alright then. I'll integrate the other skills.]
"Sure."
Dream nodded, and the next moment, Sophia began moving the skill [Catalog] and the skill [Dimensional Tunneling.] Not long after, Dream got some notification. From the system this time.
<[Sophia] has leveled up!>
<[Sophia] has leveled up!>
<[Sophia] has leveled up!>
<[Universal Language has leveled up!>
<[Universal Language] is max level!>
<[Arcana] has leveled up!>
<[Arcana] has leveled up!>
<[Arcana] has leveled up!>
<You have earned the Active skill: [Arcane Transmutation]!>
<[Arcane Transmutation] is level 1>
Dream watched the notifications pop up. At the same time, he could feel changes within his mind space as a result of the Catalog skill being integrated.
Supposedly, the catalog skill acted just like a catalog would. It stored information that could be easily accessed and sorted through. And that turned out to be pretty much correct, except Dream underestimated its scale.
When it was integrated, the catalog skill seemed to expand Dream's mind. Not expanding in the sense of enlightening him, but expansion in the sense of increasing storage.
Before, Dream felt like he could remember most things. A sure-fire fact was, he never had trouble with memory after becoming so powerful. He remembered all facts he needed to know, and many things he didn't. It was definitely better than a regular human's. But now, he felt as if his mind were swapped out from a little flash drive to a huge hard drive.
When it took effect, his mind space began to take on a different form. Within Dream's mind space, there were many monoliths that stood around each other in a circle, replicating the look of the legacy space. Now though, the Catalog skill came in and took on form, creating a book in the center of that circle of monoliths.
The book appeared above a pedestal, floating majestically. It was a simple book with a black cover and white pages. All of its pages started flipping quickly as soon as it appeared, and lines of script continuously appeared around it from thin air and placed themselves on the pages. It was recording information.
In fact, all information that was brought into his mind, things like sensory information, both magical and physical, and the thousands of thoughts that went through his head every second, were totally stored in the book within their entirety. When they were, he could begin recalling all information that he received and produced from the book, as if looking back in time. Everything down to the smallest detail.
Amazing thing was, it didn't feel weird. To recall all that information felt normal despite the astronomical amount. It didn't clutter his mind or disorient him with information overloads. It felt... well, like a catalog.
"...Well this is nice."
[The skill involves storing everything you ever experience and think about. It also applies sorting techniques to easily navigate all the information, making it feel like you're just recalling memories like normal. I integrated it with the [Universal Language] skill as well, so its efficiency skyrocketed and allowed it to cooperate with your mind seamlessly. As the name says, it's literally a catalog, except for the mind. As for the form it took, I hope you like it.]
"I do. That skill is a lot more useful than I thought it would be actually. Now, what's my status look like?"
Dream wondered and called out his status.
|Profile|
Name: Dream
Species: [Metacosmic Psykhe]
Class: [Prophet]
Title: [Origin Seeker]
Level: 398
Stats: Strength- S+ Agility- S+
Stamina- S+ Magic- S+
Passive Skills: [Sophia] Lvl. 44, [Arcana] Lvl. 97, [Universal Language] Lvl. MAX
Active Skills: [Particle Manipulation] Lvl. 70, [Arcane Transmutation] Lvl. 1
"I've almost maxed out [Arcana]. Nice."
Dream nodded seeing his status. While the evolution for the summons skill was unexpected, it was definitely welcome. It enhanced his capacity for thought and gave him new abilities.
"We're definitely going to spend time messing with the transmutation skill. However... I think I should focus on the tunneling skill right now."
[Now? Shouldn't you head down to Earth?]
"That was before this unexpected turn of events. Dimensional tunneling... The ability to poke through dimensions and travel through space, like a portal. Although I've already learned how to use Aether and have somewhat developed this skill, it's only for quick travel over short distances. But this... I think this is the next step. I need to study dimensional travel. If I can, maybe I can make my own portals. And wouldn't you know it, we have a portal right here."
Dream smiled and turned around, looking back to the portal. Corvatsch was still there, just looking at him with a smile as if he knew what just happened. Dream flew toward the portal.
"Back so soon? "
Corvatsch joked, prompting Dream to smirk. He had just gotten through a serious talk and affirmed himself to go to the planet and move on with his life. But not even a few minutes later, he was turning around.
"I wanted to take a look at the portal, see if I can't learn anything from it."
"Of course. It will only be open for two more days though."
"Hmm, funny how I thought that I had plenty of time. Now I wish there was more. I better get to studying then."
"Indeed."
Corvatsch nodded as Dream quickly flew to the edge of the portal. After flying up to it, he spread some of his influence and let it was over the edge.
"Hmm, well, it's loaded with aether. It's also incredibly stable. This thing won't budge or break down unless that guy wants it to."
[...It seems like the Aether is grabbing space and warping it directly. It's not simply pulling apart though.]
"It's punching a hole into it and creating a channel to another section in space. But it's not a simple wormhole either. It's formed through a higher dimension. The question is... how?"
Dream went quiet and dove fully into examining the edge of the portal. The portal obviously shouldn't exist going by the standard laws of physics. It didn't even work like a wormhole. It was like Corvatsch pulled over a portion of space and placed it against the portion near earth, not unlike taking the doors of two houses and placing them next to each other. Unless you bent the space in between the two to your will, you couldn't do it.
Not to mention, the spaces Corvatsch connected were literally millions of light-years apart. It was an unfathomable distance to cross by any means, but he simply connected the two like it was nothing. After thinking about that, Dream's evaluation of Corvatsch skyrocketed.
'I was wrong. This man could turn the Earth into a ping pong ball and play with it like a toy. He... is the closest thing to a god that I've ever seen. That begs the question though, who's the person giving him orders? The person who sent me across worlds in the first place. How powerful must he be...'
Dream drifted off into thought, his worldview broadening by the second. He was beginning to realize just how vast the universe was, and how full of powerful beings it could be. He truly was a big fish in an infinitely small pond.
...........
.......
For the next two days, Dream focused totally on examining the portal, not a care in the world for what was going on down on the planet below him.
Despite those two days of study though, he hadn't made much progress. As the deadline came up, he got increasingly frustrated.
"Damn! No matter how you run it, this is impossible to do!"
Dream cried out like a child. Over these two days, he had done an uncountable number of calculations and simulations with Sophia. They had even gone so far as to develop a system of mathematics for the 4th dimension to try and more properly simulate things. After all, A 4 dimensional system couldn't be represented by 3 dimensional information, which included standard math.
"Information is different in the 4th dimension, but that shouldn't be so much of a problem. I just can't figure out how you get these pieces so close together! I mean, the only viable way would be to exert influence on both areas of space at the same time, creating a tunnel. But how do you do that?"
Dream turned to Corvatsch, who was still sitting near him. Dream hadn't been quiet all this time. Like with the Keeper, he asked all the questions that came to mind. Anything he wasn't sure about, which was just about every aspect of the portal, he pressed information for.
Unlike with the Keeper though, Corvatsch wasn't bound by any rules. At least, not as much. While Corvatsch didn't explain everything, he did answer some small questions. That didn't do much to clear Dream's dilemma though, so he continued to search for anything he could.
Not much came to him though. While he had begun to touch upon the basic concepts of spatial tunneling, it wasn't anything to the degree of connecting galaxies. As he found, he would probably be able to easily tunnel to any location within the range of his influence. That range was only a couple kilometers though. To go from that to a couple million light years was unfathomable for him.
"Sigh, sheesh. Just how powerful are you, Corvatsch? Are you some kind of god?'
"There are many different images of what a god can be. By a mortal's standards, yes, I would be. By your standards, I may be a few steps below a god. By my standards, I am by no means a god."
"I have no idea what your standards are, and honestly, I'm a bit afraid to ask. Anyway, didn't that guy give me a task? I wonder if crossing the portal counts as me going to Earth."
Saying that, Dream took out a sheet of paper. It was the letter he got from Corvatsch, or more specifically, the mysterious man behind Corvatsch.
Dream flipped the sheet over to look at the backside. Before, the text was blurred and he couldn't read it. Now though, it appeared as normal.
It read:
Hello again!
Since you have attempted and failed to understand the working behind Corvatsch's portal, I know you are quite curious about the task you are being given. Well read close!
The Universe is a big place, much bigger than what you know and even what you think. In fact, there is more to the Universe than just the Universe. Think of the Universe you are in as merely the skin of an apple. That should give you an image as to how big it truly is.
Now, that Universe you are in is a very underwhelming and underdeveloped place. The world you came from is one of the more naturally developed areas, but even that place is tiny compared to other groups in the vast expanse of Everything. This means that, until you escape that tiny village known as the Universe, you will stagnate in power, as will the rest of the people around you. There will be no more threats or opportunities for long term growth.
However, fret not! There is a way to escape that little village you are in. I have given you the foundation to do so, and the task that you will receive is just that: To escape the village.
With your new skills, a certain someone, and the portal you took from the demons, you must tunnel your own way through the skin of the apple and down towards its core, thus escaping the Universe that you are in.
Of course, I won't make you blindly do so. The coordinates to the location you should tunnel to are on the bottom of this letter. As you come to study dimensional tunneling, you will naturally realize how to use them.
So! That concludes my message and task. Everything else is up to you. There is no time limit to completing your task, so go at your own pace.
I wish you luck in your future endeavors and relationships. May the goddess of love be with you.
- A very mysterious dude
Dream finished the letter with confusion. A certain someone? Good luck with future relationships? The words were seemingly out of nowhere, but Dream couldn't help seeing them as an omen.
After thinking about it for a while though, he just shrugged. He knew he would come to find out what the words meant.
He then looked down at the bottom of the letter. On it was some golden script written in Universal language. It was a single short line, and Dream quickly absorbed it into his mind space.
The script appeared in his mind, and then it was quickly absorbed into the book in the center. Dream then analyzed it, but even after going through it, he wasn't able to make sense of it. They were higher dimensional coordinates, but he couldn't tell where they wanted him to go, or what the coordinates were written in reference to.
"Sheesh. I can't even understand these coordinates. And besides, how am I supposed to tunnel somewhere if I don't have aether to use? I only have a limited amount..."
"Actually, you don't seem to have a problem with that."
"Hm?"
Dream turned to Corvatsch who suddenly spoke up.
"What do you mean?"
"The heart. That's within you. It is a natural generator of aether, albeit weakened. With that, you shouldn't have any problems with an aether supply."
"Really? I don't sense any aether coming out of it. There's only the aether inherent to it. If I take that out though, it'll lose most of its power and applicability."
"That heart doesn't actively collect and radiate aether. In its core, if you pull out that ball of aether, it will begin to siphon aether from the surroundings. While you will need to power it with your Will for it to work, it is a viable long term source of aether."
"Huh. Is that right?"
Dream's brows raised, and he quickly reached out to the heart with his influence. After locating the source of aether in the center, he drew on it, depleting it and leaving the center empty.
After that, he could sense the heart react and draw upon his energy. He didn't resist, and after powering the heart some, it began to accumulate more aether in its center, eventually stopping when it was full.
"Well I'll be damned! That's cool! And useful! It would've been nice to know about earlier, but oh well. Hey, do you know what this heart is anyway?"
"Hmm, it looks like the heart of a class 6."
"Class 6?"
"Yes, a step above that artificial demon you fought which was a class 5. Class 6's can naturally draw upon aether and various energies that they use. This heart was the organ of one of those beings, and apparently the source of power for it. While it's far from its peak state, its basic functions are still present. There's even that residual Will within it, and its seems you've taken advantage of that too."
"Well, kind of. It was a crude process. Still, this thing really is extraordinary. To think I got my hands on it."
Dream was amazed. To think this class 6 heart even appeared on that planet, and he got his hands on it. Though, while he might think it was coincidental, maybe it was all the plans of that mysterious dude. He seemed to be some kind of psychic who could see the future, so maybe he sent Dream to that planet with the expectation that he would eventually get the heart. It was possible.
"Oh well. Anyway, I guess the deadline is just about here."
Sighing, Dream put other topics to the back of his mind. He looked around at the portal, and then at Corvatsch.
"Thanks again. I know you're under some orders, but I really am grateful. You've done something I can't pay you back for."
"It was no problem. Like last time, I only ask that you take care of a certain someone."
"I will. When I meet them of course."
"You will. Now, it is time for me to close the portal."
"Mm. Goodbye Corvatsch."
"Goodbye, Dream."
The two shook hands from across the portal. Then, when they separated, the portal shrunk down and closed. Now, Dream had officially returned to Earth.
Turning around, he looked down at the blue planet below. Down there were his family and friends, as well as everything he brought from the other world. While he had changed a lot, that didn't matter to him. He was just glad to be back.
"...Time to go home."
With a smile, he began his descent to the planet, satisfaction and anticipation ready to explode from his chest.
AN: From now on, chapters from this story will be marked with OS for Origin Seeker. To easily differentiate from the new story
