Origin Seeker

About an hour after they plotted the designs, Dream and Sophia had finished constructing boosters and ships.

The first boosters they created were one that would transport the railgun platforms. Once they finished those they connected them to the existing reactor onboard and hooked them up to the structure. This made the railguns totally mobile and capable of moving anywhere in the world.

Next were the ships. Well, he actually only needed one, but he made 5. On the ships were much smaller torus reactors than the ones the railguns used, being only 5 feet in diameter. He put these in the roof of the ships where they were then connected to two small reactor engines on each of the wings, similar to the VTOLs he had previously made just with double the engines. 

He also armored each ship heavily with high-grade steel as well as liquid mana-based enchantments for stealth and defense. This was going to be used to escape after all and they needed to be able to take hits, resist spells, and run away fast. 

Everything was constructed smoothly and when tested, all worked as intended. All reactors were ignited, but for the ships, they needed their argon fuel. So Dream took some time to build a container and go down to the planet, extracting several dozen tons of argon and hydrogen. Once he brought it back an hour later, he fueled everything to their max.

Able to fly, he sent off the railguns first to their pre-picked destinations. When they landed, they would deploy and go into stealth mode, waiting for their time.

But before he left to get Riddick, there was one thing he needed to do. He went and modified the space station, allowing it to maintain a hospitable environment for the Old Man. And after pressurizing everything with the appropriate gases, he then left with one of the ships to go pick him up.

..........

As befitting the new fusion reactor-driven ship, Dream was able to return to the ground in less than 5 minutes. Along the way, he had watched the argon engines on the wings do their thing, and it was a really cool sight to see. Their dense blue plasma trails ejected from the engines was something straight out of sci-fi.

After coming to the city, Dream exited the ship and went up to the mana dome that covered the entire Spire city. Usually he would go through the gates properly, but this time, he had something to test.

Dream floated down and felt the mana barrier. For anybody weak, this mana barrier would be strong enough to physically keep you from moving through. But for those with high enough strength, you would be able to push through. Though this would trip several alarms that he picked up on in the barrier.

Despite this though, after feeling the barrier, Dream activated his mana and Aegis. And without much delay he went and pushed through the mana.

Well, drifted through might be better. Dream felt no resistance as he moved through. And although he actually slightly tripped an alarm, his mana was able to intercept it and quash it. 

"It picks up on all mana signatures besides a specific set, which it lets through unhindered. How much you want to bet that's that device that Idona had. She could control this barrier with that thing. So if you hit it with those certain signatures, it'll let you through. Though I just broke through it directly, I guess there's a more graceful way to 'hack' this barrier."

[One that would take a bit longer. Just breaking through it is more efficient. And we didn't trip any unknown alarms. So I think we're good.]

"Let's head down then."

Saying so, Dream maintained stealth and headed down to the Spire. 

As he went through the doors and hallways, he went past everyone totally without notice. Even when he waved in front of someone, they didn't sense a thing. Though they were all class 3 and under, people of lesser power. So he quickly made his way up to Riddick's chamber, hoping to test it out on him.

When he came upon the door to Riddick's chamber, he opened it slowly and walked in. He did his utmost to mask himself, using every technique he knew whether it was to withhold mana, aura, radiation, he didn't bend any light, making it look like nobody was there, and he even used his control to mask the sound of objects he moved. 

So he walked in, maintaining his calm. Although he couldn't poke around with his mana or influence, he could tell where Riddick was by sound and air movement. So he made his way over, getting as close as possible.

Soon, he was within Riddick's field of view. But even after looking directly at him, Riddick didn't react at all. Right now, he was looking over different books that he pulled from the shelf and put into his inventory. 

Dream took steps toward the man. Right now he was 15 feet away. And he closed that gap to 7 before he finally got a reaction.

"Hm?"

Riddick lifted his head, looking behind him. After staring for a second, he extended out his mana and influence, washing over the area.

"Oh, it's you, Boy."

"Huh. Detect me easily?"

"Not really. The fact that you were able to get so close before I even noticed is praise-worthy. But when I washed over you with my mana, I did notice irregularities and your soul signature, which I recognized. Though even right now, I can only kind of make you out."

"Hmm. I guess 7 feet is pretty good."

The next moment, Dream undid stealth, appearing before Riddick.

"I'm ready."

"So am I."

"Leaving all this stuff?"

"It's not like I'm leaving forever."

"True. Though before we leave, let me do something."

After he said that, Dream disappeared once more and exited the room. Riddick tilted his head, but just let him be.

"*Scream!!*"

"Whoah!"

*BOOM*

"What the hell was that?"

Not long after he left, Riddick heard an interesting sequence of noises. He quickly left his chamber and made his way over.

"...Oh. I should've guessed."

When he saw what happened, he immediately knew what happened.

"You scared the shit out of me!" (Idona)

"Sorry! It was a necessary experiment!"

"...Boy you... Nevermind."

Riddick was about to reprimand him, but he knew why he did that test and couldn't say anything.

Dream stood up, dusting off the rubble that had fallen on him. Idona just took deep breaths, calming herself.

After she had been surprised by Dream, who had walked up to her in stealth, she had reflexively launched an attack and threw him through the wall. Although he wasn't hurt, the same couldn't be said for the wall, which now had a person-shaped hole in it.

"What kind of experiment involves you sneaking into the chambers of a class 4?"

"A stealth experiment. I wanted to see how good it was."

"...Well for me who's a ranger, I guess 5 feet could be considered exceptional. Though I was also distracted by a book, so it doesn't count."

"Oh I think it does. Hehe, better keep your guard up. I might've been able to kill you should I have been prepared."

"Ugh. How were you able to get this far anyway? The Spire had tons of enchantments to detect people like you."

"Well I happen to be one of the world's best enchanters. Maybe even the best. Those weak detection spells couldn't do anything."

"...Whatever. If the others knew about that, they may want to hire you to create new ones. Anyway, since you're a craftsman type, fix my wall. I don't know how."

"Okay."

After nodding, Dream moved his mana and brought the pieces of the wall together. He then took out metal from his inventory, melting it and filling in the gaps and cracks, making the wall totally solid. 

"There."

"...It's not stone."

"Not entirely, but in terms of strength, it's actually better. Plus I think it looks pretty cool."

"*sigh* Whatever. At least there won't be a hole in my wall."

"And since I got what I came for, the Old Man and I will be leaving."

"Wait, what did you come for?"

"A reaction. Yours was pretty great."

"Wha..?"

Idona suddenly reddened after thinking about her scream. 

"F-forget about that! That never happened! Just go!"

"Hehe, okay okay! Come on, Old Man."

"Mm."

After waving him off out of embarrassment, Dream happily left while Riddick followed. Idona huffed as she went back to her chambers.

"...Wait, did he use mithril?"

After looking, she suddenly noticed the metal he used to repair the wall.

"...He really is extravagant. But that asshole! You shouldn't sneak up on a girl like that! My heart wasn't prepared..."

..........

......

After leaving the Spire and boarding his ship, the two men rose to the skies and arrived at the space station.

"...Holy hell..."

As they approached and boarded, Riddick was stunned by the sheer size of the station. It was bigger than any building he had ever seen, and it was up in space!

They walked flew through past all the busy machines flying around before coming to the storage area. After seeing the giant machines, he had been stunned once more. But when he laid eyes on the resource piles, he didn't even have words.

"You got your suit?"

Dream spoke up, interrupting Riddick's reverie.

"Uhh, yes. Right here."

He brought the suit out of his inventory. It floated and conglomerated into a humanoid.

"Alright. Now I hadn't thought of this before, but we need to design your suit around you."

"It fits fine."

"Not what I meant. I mean magically. Basically, I want the suit to be used in harmony with your mana. Your mana is special, and if you interact with the suit, conflicts may happen. So I want to test some things."

"Alright."

"Then I want you to tell me what kind of ways you would use your tools or weapons. And your magic. Do you use spells? Manipulation?"

"I use many spells, but also manipulation. Ever since I advanced, I've used mostly manipulation in conduction with my skills."

"Hmm, well I don't know your skills, and even if I did, I don't understand them. Other than external boosts like the suit giving you flight speed, I don't think there's much more I can do. Even mana density won't help since you naturally condense liquid mana. Do you even use any tools or gear?"

"Hmm...There is one. Here."

Riddick took out a staff from his inventory and handed it to Dream. 

"...Huh. Tungsten carbide handle. And this crystal...More diamond. But where would you even find a diamond of this size? And I'm guessing it's filled with your liquid mana?"

Dream looked at the staff closely, breaking down what everything was.

"Correct. I got this staff and diamond from a dwarven crafter. It cost me a lot. I then brought it to an enchanter at the Mountain who did the enchantments. That also cost me a lot."

"Hmm, I can see the enchantments, but for what it's going for, they suck."

"...How do those enchantments suck? They're powerful and have been able to assist my magic for decades. It took several catalysts and 10 hours to complete everything as well as my help with condensing the mana. As far as I know it's the best enchanted item I have."

"I could've made something like this in less than an hour. And that was before I advanced. If it's now... This'll be fun. Let's upgrade your gear, shall we,"

Saying so, Dream brought out a table and set the staff on it. 

"Now, the way they constructed this was putting the liquid mana inside the diamond to contain it and enchanting the diamond to extract power from the liquid when used. But if they were proficient in enchanting, they would know that you can directly enchant the liquid mana to materials."

"But how? It's a liquid. you can't combine a liquid and a metal."

"And that's where the misunderstanding is. Liquid mana isn't the same as a normal liquid. It's based in the 4th dimension, so it can disappear from the third. Like so."

"Huh?"

Dream suddenly made the liquid inside his staff disappear, leaving behind a clear hollow diamond. But despite it disappearing, Riddick could still sense the mana.

"...Interesting."

"You can use this mana to enchant things instead of as a fuel source. It'll allow much better functionality, especially for you who's so much more powerful."

"Indeed. I've outgrown it."

"But now it's going to get an upgrade. But we're not using this staff. We'll use the suit."

After scanning the enchantments on the staff, Dream tossed it and brought over Riddick's suit.

"The enchantments on it were inefficient and sub-par. But their function was good. It enhanced your mana control and condensing ability. But with you where you are now, the only function that will help is mana control, though even that might not do much. What can enchantments help a class 4 with? What're your lowest stats?"

"Strength and agility."

"Not stamina?"

"It's only lower than my mana. Though if this suit can act as armor as well, then make it do so."

"Of course. Now for strength, well there's not much I can do to directly enhance bodily power but I can make the suit enhance your movements giving greater impact ability for things like punches. Agility is a tough one though. Organizing your mana is one thing, but agility stems from your soul. As for making this thing armored, that I can do very well. This'll be the strongest armor you can get."

"Question."

"Shoot."

"Can you engrave spells into this?"

"I can enchant them into it, yes."

"How many?"

"How many do you want?"

"Well, the ones in this book to start with. These are spells I've developed after advancing."

Riddick took out a book, handing it to Dream who scanned it when he grabbed it.

"Interesting. You actually devised some of your own language."

"Indeed. The basic language couldn't do the things I wanted, so I tried some different things out."

"...I can enchant these all into the suit."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'll modify it first, but yes. And I'm going to design the runes exactly like this. I don't understand your language, so I can't replicate it with my own."

"Thanks."

"Sure. I'll start now."

After that, Dream suddenly extended out mana towards the purple humanoid. And after receiving directions, the humanoid formed into a cloud. 

The first thing Dream did was divide the particles that made up the suit into a smaller size. He had made them big before, but after thinking about it, he decided smaller was better. Either way, it only took a few minutes to divide the particles. 

After that, Dream formed the globe network and attached it to the enchantments already on the particles. As per their design, the enchantments resonated and connected easily, allowing quick modifications to be made. 

Dream then took the runes of the book and began inputting them into the enchantments. He input them as pre-formed spells that could be fluidly selected by the user. All they had to do was choose the spells they wanted and infuse their mana into the suit. The entire spell formation process would then be taken care of automatically and then they just had to guide it.

Riddick watched as Dream precisely manipulated mana and matter harmoniously. Seeing this, he finally understood why he was able to become so good at things like enchanting. Though it was only because he was a class 4 that he was able to better understand his power. If he were weaker, everything Dream was doing would be a mystery.