Origin Seeker - Chapter 243 – Separated / Armies

By the 7 day mark within the chaotic void, everyone’s bubble had shrunk by half, only a few inches from their bodies. Iris’s was even lesser, but Dream found that she could actually use her [Gluttony] skill to eat the power of the void. This had shocked him, but it was a welcome surprise.

With Melody’s suit reinforcing her bubble, she was also able to hold out. As for Alice, while she could slow the destruction, she couldn’t resist it. Her’s was gradually pierced into, forcing her suit to manifest and help out.

Luna and Dream were the best ones off. Dream had his supplies of aether and could tunnel through the void even without the portal. As for Luna, she could reinforce the space with her orderly powers, fighting the power of chaos.

But it was clear they needed to do something. When the 8th day hit, Dream talked to Luna.

“Help Alice. I’ll try and merge your bubbles.”

“Okay.”

Luna nodded. The next moment, Dream’s power reached through the void. He had to consume tons of aether and energy to even reach her bubble. After that, he pushed her close to Alice. After creating a channel between the two, he did a small merger, making it so that Luna could transfer her power over.

Alice smiled in relief as Luna came to her aid. Seeing that it worked, Dream turned to Melody. He barely reached out to her bubble and pulled her close, anchoring her space to his. Like this, the two were mutually dependent.

Dream used a lot of his stockpiles of aether to reinforce her bubble, barely giving her a little more breathing room. The power of the void was just too strong, and creating any form of space was exceedingly difficult. He couldn’t imagine anyone without the ability to manipulate aether attempting to navigate the void.

After Melody and Alice were secured, Dream looked to Iris. She continued to eat the void that pierced into her bubble, never tiring and never getting full. This power was accumulated within her, able to be used for anything she wished. She frequently expressed to Dream how good it was to have a decent meal. She hadn’t had one like it in years.

With that, he didn’t worry much about her. He turned his head forward, watching the nothingness around them pass by. It was like they were fish in a sea of darkness.

However, out of nowhere, the sea suddenly changed. As Dream was watching the void around them, he suddenly felt a tyrannical, deadly power flush into their bubbles. The entire void changed from black nothingness to a sea of blood and violence. He had no idea what was going on.

“Damn…”

He cursed as he reinforced his and Melody’s bubble that got worn down at an alarming rate. Luna was forced to summon her energy as well. As for Iris, her eyes brightened as she intentionally let this energy in so she could eat it.

“Haha! This is amazing!”

Iris giggled as that sea of red flooded into her bubble. Dream was alarmed as it filled the bubble, Iris indulging in the rich energy. Her bubble got dangerously close to bursting. If that happened, she would be ejected.

“Iris!”

“Dream!”

“Protect your bubble! Are you trying to get ejected?!”

Dream shouted. He wanted to reach out and reinforce her bubble, but she was farther away than Luna or Alice. He could barely reach their bubbles, let alone hers.

She shook her head though.

“Do you know where this is? This is where the demons live! This is demon territory!”

Iris looked around. Hearing her, Dream poked around the red sea around him. Indeed, he could feel the aura of demons.

Iris continued.

“Dream, I think I should stop here.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m not like you guys. I need to fight. I need to eat! The demon territories are the best places to do that. At least there, I don’t have to eat people.”

She spoke, this time with a bit more of a solemn attitude. Dream turned serious hearing her. He knew what demon territories were, and he knew what Iris desired.

“…Is this really what you want? If you leave now, we may not see each other for a very long time. It could be decades before I’m able to find you. I want you to thrive, Iris. But do you want to do that in the demon territories?”

“Dream, I’m more like the demons than people. Like you said, I’m your little bundle of chaos. Besides, it’s been 10 years Dream, and I’m really, really hungry.”

“…”

Dream was silent. Indeed, he had made her wait for 10 years. During this time, she couldn’t eat. The souls and energy of the demons on Earth couldn’t satiate her endless hunger. She had withheld those cravings for a long time. She had resisted her very nature in order to wait for him to finally build the portal.

Now, she wanted to give in. She wanted to eat without restraint. Against the demons, there would be no remorse. She could go around eating anybody she saw. She could finally indulge and rid herself of her hunger.

Dream thought. He didn’t want to separate, but this would be what’s best for Iris. The two looked at each other, and Dream spoke.

“I’ll find you.”

“No. I’ll find you. Wait for me while I become powerful. I can’t let you keep surpassing me. When I’m confident I can surpass you instead, I’ll search for you.”

With that declaration, Iris smiled. After that, she stopped eating all of the destructive energy that poured into her space bubble. At the same time, her suit activated. Dream watched as the suit forced her body into a specific channel of space, diverting away from them. After following that channel, she disappeared, ejected from the void.

Luna and Alice saw this, but didn’t say anything. They kept shuttling through the void. Eventually, the surroundings turned from red to black again.

For another 2 days, they flew through the void relatively peacefully. However, this peace didn’t last long. Suddenly, the surrounding void turned white. At the same time, the pressure on them became less chaotic and more manageable. However, with this came another issue.

“Space channels. Watch out!”

Dream spotted several channels in space. These channels all led somewhere, likely other portals. There were tons of them, and if they got caught in one, then they would be carried along it.

Unfortunately, only Dream could maneuver through the void. Luna had to exert her full power to barely avoid these channels. For a while, she kept on track with Alice. But after a while, the channels became denser. She couldn’t avoid them.

She looked at Dream.

“Don’t worry about us! Just be safe!”

“Hang on! If I can just-”

Dream reached out, using his power to reach toward Luna and Alice. However, they were moving too fast, and the distance between them had widened. Before he could reach them, their bubbles hit a space channel. Dream watched as they were diverted away, going to who knows where.

“Damn!”

He cursed, focusing back on his and Melody’s bubble. He avoided the channels for another several hours until they became sparser. Then, he suddenly started to slow.

“We’re here?”

Dream was surprised as a tear opened in front of them. Frowning, he shot into that tear. He didn’t care where it took him. He just wanted to get back into regular space.

Without suspense, he was ejected from the void. The tear closed behind him, leaving no trace he had been there.

……………

Pop!

Suddenly, above a serene grassland, two people warped into existence. With a yell, they fell to the ground. One landed gracefully, while the other face planted into the floor.

“Oof!”

“It’s like you forget that you can use magic sometimes.”

Dream shook his head as he watched his sister eat dirt. As she pulled her head out of the ground, he looked around.

Around him was nothing but vast grassland, vibrant and green. The sky was pink, and up there hung a large blood red star.

As he stood there though, Dream’s soul suddenly shook. He felt a connection being made to the larger forces of nature that surrounded him. Not only that, but the connections to the concepts in his mind space strengthened. He felt a vast power flood through his soul, strengthening it and increasing his limits.

“Whoah…”

He trembled a bit. Dream immediately realized that in this world, magic was more pronounced. The ambient mana was incredibly dense, easily condensed to a liquid. Flux was also plentiful. And when the wind blew, Dream could feel mana brush by him. Everything in this world was attuned to the arcane. It was a far cry from Earth.

“In this kind of a place, any magic would be amplified, and it would be much easier to advance in classes.”

“Right? Although, it’s a little stuffy. I’ll have to get used to it.”

Melody spoke as she wiped off some dirt and straightened her clothes. She had also noticed the difference. It hit both of them like a truck.

Out of nowhere though, Dream suddenly got a notification.

<Alert! Universal position altered!>

<Individual has entered the bounds of the inner universe.>

<Making contact with [Record]>

<Establishing conne—–>

“This again?”

Dream frowned as the notifications suddenly cut out. Then, he felt a change in his Title.

[Alert! Isolating contact with Record!]

[Connection isolated. Rerouting to sub-system: [Wanderer]]

[Seeker status verified.]

[Sylus Dreamer, welcome to the inner universe.]

Messages appeared in front of him. Dream was perplexed as this new system greeted him.

It continued.

[Note: Because you have entered the inner universe, the presence of the Record is deeper.]

[Note: You have three MAXed skills. To evolve your skills, please return to the legacy space for class advancement.]

[Note: Because you have connected to the sub-system: [Wanderer], your profile has changed in order to reconcile the discrepancy in your power.]

[Note: Specialists of the faction: [Wanderer] have a presence across the entire inner universe. To display your Seeker status, manifest your Title.]

[Good luck, Seeker. May your name be carved among the stars.]

With that, the notifications ended. Dream’s eyebrow raised. He opened his profile the next moment.

|Profile|

Name: Sylus Dreamer

Species: [Metacosmic Psykhe]

Class: [Prophet]

Title: [Origin Seeker], [Husband]

Level: 398

Stats: Ethereal Pool- SSS+      Mind- X

Vitality- SSS+                  Will- X

Skills: [Sophia] Lvl. 87, [Arcana] Lvl. MAX, [Universal Language] Lvl. MAX,

[Particle Manipulation] Lvl. MAX, [Arcane Transmutation] Lvl. 75

“So the stats changed.”

Dream looked over everything. The first thing he noticed was the names of the stats. Before, they were strength, stamina, agility, and magic. Dream had disregarded these things since they didn’t exactly apply to him who didn’t have a physical body. Now though, the stats were more applicable.

The Ethereal Pool was his pool that held all the mystical energies like mana, flux, and aether. His entire body and soul contained this ethereal pool.

Vitality was the strength of his soul, basically a measurement of his life capacity. A lesser soul would have a lesser life capacity, meaning they would live shorter lives and couldn’t take as much damage.

Mind was the strength of his Mind Space. Dream’s mind space was exceptionally solid, especially after being broken and reformed a few times over. His mind could comprehend and contain vast power. This included the concepts he touched. A weak mind couldn’t touch upon a concept without shattering.

As for Will, that was Dream’s influence. His Will was different from others, taking on the attribute of his gray mist. This made it so that his Will encompassed a smaller area, but within that area it was sovereign. Right now, the size of Dream’s Will was about 10 miles. He could freely condense this down to only a few feet.

Naturally, Dream’s stats were high. Before, his stats were only displayed as S+. That was due to his gray mist obscuring his real power and his Title interfering with the system’s measurements. Now, it was properly reflected. To some extent at least. Dream wasn’t sure how amazing these stats were in relation to class levels.

He assumed that X stats meant the highest, while SSS stats were the highest under X stats. He really would have to figure out how good this was.

The change in stats was the only significant difference. The distinction between active and passive skills was also removed, just leaving Skills. This wasn’t that important though. Nothing fundamentally changed.

Another thing Dream discovered though was the ability to display his profile. He could actually manifest the screen, letting others see it. He could pick which parts, like his stats or titles. If he wanted to show his Seeker title, he would just manifest that part. While it was a nice function, Dream wasn’t sure why he would ever use it.

With that, Dream was properly introduced to the inner universe. Pushing aside his profile, Dream turned to Melody. She was seeing the same things he was.

He let her finish. Once Melody became lucid, she turned and looked around her. There was still nothing but grasslands, but just being here felt different.

“The gravity here is about 8 times stronger than Earth’s.”

As she observed the vast lands, Melody heard Dream speak. She turned to him before looking down, jumping in place to feel the much stronger gravity pulling her down.

“Wow. That’s weird.”

“It’ll take some getting used to. This planet has to be even larger than Jupiter, and much more massive. Though, I’m perplexed.”

“By what?”

“There’s actually a repulsive force coming from the center of this planet.”

Dream let out some of his Will, feeling the movement of energy around him. This planet was releasing a wave of force that was a combination of aether and flux. This force pushed everything upward, even people. But that left him recalculating the force of gravity. If there was a magical repulsive force, yet gravity was still 8 times stronger than Earth’s, just how strong was the gravity without the repulsion? It was probably at least 10 times stronger.

“This place is very interesting. It’s definitely not a normal planet. That makes sense though. The inner universe has been among the presence of mystical energies for far longer than Earth. Some places in the outer cosmos don’t even have mana and such. I’m curious about the phenomena that would come from the long term saturation of mana.”

Dream rubbed his chin, wishing to do some experiments. He held back though. He had to take care of his sister.

“Alright, we need to figure out where we are. We should see if we can’t find signs of civilization.”

“Uh, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“Hm?”

Dream looked at Melody. She was gazing off into the distance on the left. Tracing her line of sight, he looked at what she saw.

His eyebrows raised. At this moment, there were thousands of little dots scattered through the air, flying toward them. Dream looked closely and could see giant flying blue ships, some shaped like boats and others shaped like planes. There were easily tens of thousands of ships flying toward them, and each one could easily fit a hundred people within. He could feel a massive collective aura wash over him and Melody. This startled him even more.

“Behind us too.”

Melody spoke, causing Dream to whip his head around to the right side. The same scene repeated itself. Tens of thousands of ships were flying over, only these were red. Dream and Melody were being squished between these two groups that didn’t seem to be friendly with each other.

“What’s going on?”

Dream had a bad feeling. Suddenly, when each group was 5 miles away from each other, the ships opened up, and hundreds of thousands of people flew out. They blotted out the sky like locusts, lining up in various formations. Dream just pulled Melody close to him, making sure his Will could easily protect her.

“Blue Blood Clan! Your day of reckoning had come!”

Suddenly, there was a booming shout. A single ray of light shot out from one of the largest flagships on the right side. A man in violent red armor appeared in the skies. Dream felt powerful fluctuations of mana from this man. He was stunned by the aura.

‘This man is a class 5! A strong one too. Much stronger than the angel Giros.’

Dream immediately assessed the man’s level. While Dream was easily as strong as a class 5 himself, this guy had to be a high level class 5. Dream wasn’t any less confident in being able to beat such a character, thought it would be interesting to fight a man that forced out more of Dream’s power.

“Red Eye Clan! Your violence must be checked! Since you have marched onto our doorstep, then prepare yourselves!”

Another booming voice was heard. A blue beam of light shot into the sky, facing off against the red armored man.

This second man was dressed in flowing blue robes, an ethereal but sharp demeanor. It was definitely more refined than the violent and brutal aura that the red armored man let out. Better yet, he wasn’t any less powerful.

These two men stood across from each other. Meanwhile, the armies behind them let loose their fighting spirit. Dream watched as both sides drew swords, spears, bows, and more.

“Are we seriously on a battlefield?!”

Dream’s eye twitched. He just got here and was being caught in the crossfire between these two massive armies. He could tell that the lowest level fighters were class 3, while a significant amount were class 4’s. This single gathering of armies surpassed the cumulative fighting power of Earth. After all, Melody had been one of only a few hundred class 4’s on the entire planet after many years of development.

Dream found it rather unbelievable. Just how massive were these clans who could contain such powerful people?

“Soldiers! Heed my command!”

At this moment, the red armored man raised a sword to the sky. The sky turned from pink to red, the aura of the entire army calling upon a wave of momentum. These soldiers looked like bloodthirsty tigers, just waiting to pounce.

Right as this happened, the blue-robed man drew his own spear, pointing it at the red armored man. A blue wave washed over the sky, covering the blue army.

The red armored man sneered, bringing down his sword.

“Charge!!”