Chapter 172: Chapter 171 – Captured

After bringing up a few dozen animals around the class 3 level, Iris quickly got used to finding and eating souls.

But just a measly few dozen wouldn't be enough for her. She wanted not only more souls, but stronger souls. In fact, she told Dream that she wanted to try and get a class 4 soul. 

So after finishing up all the animals Dream brought for her, Luna and Iris left the station and flew down to where their parents were. They were close to leveling up, and with Iris's bottleneck broken through, they wanted to quickly get to their class advancement.

Although Dream thought it would be nice to go with them, he actually had some things to do in the station, so he stayed.

One of these things was checking out the two massive cores from the United Empire.

After Dream had stolen the crystal heart, the entire United Empire was thrown into a bout of chaos. While the ordinary citizens didn't really care much about a drop in mana density, the higher leveled combatants did. Higher mana densities meant a greater clarity of mind and an easier time practicing magic. This was something every magician or fighter of the United Empire had enjoyed since birth. So much so that many didn't even know what it felt like to be among lesser densities.

But after that day, everyone experienced the drop. And for the next 2 weeks after, nobody was in a good mood. This couldn't be more true for the class 4's, and above all, the Ancients.

For the highest tier combatants, while the mana density might not mean much, the heart itself did. It was a trump card and an heirloom of the entire Empire. That heart had been with them since ancient times, thousands of years. To have it so suddenly taken away was not only humiliating, but massively detrimental to the defensive power of the Empire. That heart was used to power several cores after all. These cores drove the defensive enchantments of the entire castle. 

But it was exactly because of this fact that Dream had gone ahead and took the heart. Those Kings and even the Ancients had no idea about the outer wall. They didn't even know those huge globes existed, globes that would power defensive enchantments capable of keeping the entire Empire safe and nigh impenetrable. 

So to use such a valuable item for such mundane purposes was something that Dream cringed upon thinking about. And to think they had been doing that for thousands of years...

Besides, Dream had already made more use of the heart in 3 weeks than they had in all those thousands of years. With the heart, Dream was able to drastically boost his construction ability. He was able to create cores of massive strength, and it was because of these cores that he could wholly integrate enchantments with his orbital railgun platforms. 

And those railguns were used only a few hours ago to deliver utter devastation. Dream killed tens of millions of demons in only half an hour. As far as he was concerned, he was using the heart perfectly and totally earned the right to possess it. 

But he wasn't planning to leave the Empire totally hanging. Many people knew that Dream was a master enchanter and would give pretty much anything to push the war effort, so he could go on over there and offer to help out. There wouldn't be any reason they should refuse such help.

So that's what he was planning to do. In fact, he was thinking about usnig one of the giant globe cores to power whatever enchantments they had. And this was why he was going to check them out.

In his factory, Dream walked up to two indents in the floor. Held by these indents were the two globes, one with the hole in it, and one without. 

"The one with the hole in it is totally filled with solid mana, so I'm definitely not using that. I'll just use the other one. It's only got a core of solid mana."

[Do you think we should remove the solid mana anyway? We don't even know how to make solid mana, so passing it off like that may be a bit suspicious.]

"Maybe. I guess we can. It'll make it easier to enchant anyway."

Saying that, Dream put his hand onto the globe that was hundreds of times bigger than he was and dumped some mana into it. That mana plus his powerful influence was able to unbind the solid mana from the metal and pull it out.

Putting the solid mana elsewhere, Dream proceeded to decrease the size of the globe. He couldn't possibly go there with a globe this size, so he planned to reforge it into 10-meter spheres. 

This much was easy, and in only a few minutes, he had 1000 10-meter spheres.

"Sheesh. I sometimes forget how multiplicative sphere volumes can be. Alright, we know exactly what they need, so let's enchant these for power distribution."

Spreading his influence, Dream encompassed all the spheres and enchanted them all at once, with liquid mana no less. Soon, he had 1000 fully powered cores made with grade 12 mithril. 

"Hm, very nice. Although I'll have to go to the Empire personally to offer help, I feel bad enough to do so. Plus it would be suspicious otherwise. But before that, let's check out this other globe."

Moving over, Dream observed the globe with the hole that was filled with solid mana. Its power couldn't be understated, and according to what he saw, this was the previous holding for the heart.

Putting his hand on the globe, Dream streamed in his influence. Data on the structure soon filled his mind.

"I was right."

[The structure shows many lines of vessels, some big, some small. And in the center is the mold for where the heart was. Around that mold is where the vessel lines connect to receive power from the heart.]

"So the heart did the same thing with this core as it did with Aegis. It has some Will, and that will seeks to create vessels. It's like it wants a body."

[That Will was able to take control of Aegis and transform him, but at the same time, Aegis got a pseudo-soul of his own as well as the power source that is the heart.]

"At least we know this wasn't an out of place occurrence. I wonder what animal this heart belonged to. Or human."

[The vessels aren't the same as that of a human, but it's still a humanoid shape. As for the shape and material of the heart, I've got nothing.]

"So it's some kind of humanoid. An extremely powerful one at that. Just the heart is able to release oceans of mana. It also lets loose a kind of soul energy. Although I can't totally convert the soul energy to my own like Scarlet, it instead adds extra power to my bodily enchantments."

[Mm... By the way, I'm actually making progress with the Hierarchy skill. Give me another few days and I should have a skill suitable for you. One that doesn't absolutely require a hierarchy between soul connections.]

"Oh. Very nice. Now, let's see to helping out the Empire. Contact them and tell them I'm coming and can help with their problem."

[Done.]

"Then let's go."

Saying that, Dream grabbed a few hundred of the 10-meter cores and left the factory, flying down with unheard-of speeds to the continent.

..........

......

After arriving, Dream was actually greeted by one of the Tiger Kings. It wasn't the ancient, but this king still held huge authority. 

Because of this authority, he was one of the main people who made decisions concerning the cores. Considering Dream came for that purpose, he naturally went to talk with him.

The thing that startled the king though, was the fact that he detected the power of a recently advanced class 4 coming from Dream. If he knew that what he was detecting was only a disguise however, he would be even more shocked than he was. 

There was only one reason why Dream decided to come here: he was confident in his stealth skills. If Dream hadn't gotten the heart totally under control, he would rather die than come anywhere near the Empire. He would even risk suspicions and just send his avatar. Or he would've never done anything relating to the Empire and just stayed up in the factory.

Either way, him coming here meant he was absolutely confident. He was even confident that he could bypass the detection of the Ancients. Above all though, he knew that if he really was seen through and they detected the heart, he would probably be able to fight his way out. 

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After getting over his surprise, the Tiger King and Dream discussed a few things before deciding what to do.

The Tiger was okay with him assisting, but his enchantments would obviously have to be checked. He would also have to make sure that they could operate it independently of him. 

This was all fine with Dream. For one, he already had control of all the enchantments. Two, he didn't want to make it so that only he could recharge them. That would mean more work, and why would he give more work to himself?

As for giving them the cores he had, the Tiger was more than okay with that. Who didn't want free stuff? Although it was a little odd that Dream was going to be doing all this for free, the Tiger just took it as Dream trying to create a better relationship with the Empire. 

So after agreeing to everything, Dream was allowed to do as he wished under the supervision of several enchanters. He was given 5 days to work, but if he couldn't get any results during that time, they would have to just send him away and do things themselves.

Fortunately for them, Dream didn't feel like spending a lot of time on this. So after only 20 minutes, he was done. Even those 20 minutes were just a farce though. 

How did they know he was done? Well, as the enchantments were formed and charged, the entire castle fluctuated with powerful waves of mana. All the existing enchantments were rebooted and even strengthened. Plus, from the cores spread streams of mana fog.

All the enchanters around Dream were baffled. Not only did he take hardly any time, but he was able to power everything and have enough power leftover to produce a mana fog. Plus, they could feel something from the cores. It was an attractive vortex that pulled the surrounding mana inward. 

Dream had enchanted the cores to power everything and also pull in mana with the vortex. Except the vortex wasn't just present around the cores, but used the entire castle as a medium to pull in mana. 

This enchantment of course required lots of energy, and if it wasn't powered consistently, it would stop functioning. But Dream easily accommodated for that and made it so that anyone could charge the core by expending energy. For them, it would be as easy as wielding one of their weapons. 

Upon inspection, the enchanters couldn't barely make out how Dream's enchantments worked. While this would usually be a problem, Dream had given them instructions on how to utilize the cores fully. And seeing the instant results, the Tiger King was more than pleased. He had already solved one of their biggest problems and set them up so they could maintain the cores indefinitely.

With that, the King didn't really care that the enchanters couldn't figure out the enchantments. He didn't hold them in high regard anyway. His superior, the Tiger Ancient, often expressed how displeased he was with this era's enchanters. For someone like Dream, a man who was known to have enchanting abilities surpassing even the dwarves, to fix this was almost expected. 

Plus, Dream was a class 4. Even class 4's who never dabbled in enchanting could get rather skilled just by trying a little bit. That's just what their transcendent power allowed them. But since Dream was basically a dedicated enchanter, his abilities would naturally be greater than any class 3 could ever hope to match up to.

And so, the Tiger King happily bid Dream farewell. 

..........

As Dream flew up and entered his factory, Sophia was working on the Hierarchy skill. 

In fact, Dream also helped by breaking it down with her. Although she had already been working on it for weeks, Dream had occasionally helped her while working on the railgun so he had a gist of where she was at.

This help actually served to speed things up greatly. Dream would often get immersed in things like this, so once he started helping, he didn't stop for an entire day. 

This day was enough for huge progress to be made. Sophia was already on the verge of completing her modification, and so when Dream helped, he was able to take care of many of the abstract problems that Sophia had difficulty with. With this, it was only several hours until she was done. 

And while Dream would've kept going until they were done, Sophia interrupted with some news. 

[Hey Dream.]

"Hm."

[A bit of a problem. It's about Arrina and Mara.]

"Those two? I haven't heard anything about them for a while. What happened?"

"Long story short, they've been captured by the demons. I didn't notice until Mara's bracelet was tampered with, and records show that Arrina was with her."

"...Where?"

"A stronghold. It's one of the medium-sized ones we were planning to hit later. I've got a drone on it, and those two along with 2,300 other prisoners are being held there."

"..."

Dream looked at all the data that Sophia gave him. He could see the last moments captured by the bracelet of Mara getting thrown into a cell full of other humans. He also saw the entirety of the stronghold, the number of demons, and their estimated power level.

Dream pondered for a bit. Not about whether or not to save them, but about how to effectively destroy the place without the prisoners being harmed.

"...I want a legion of soldiers, my avatar, the Bob squadron, and my aircraft. Send some dust scouts to preemptively find the prisoners, and have ships on standby for extraction."

[On it. And you?]

"I'm obviously going too. Someone's gotta take care of the class 4's. Oh, call for the girls as well. I'm sure they'll want the experience."

[Got it.]

"Then let's get ready."

Dream stood from the couch he was sitting on and prepared to leave, though not before taking a look at another part of the factory. Not far away from him was a certain room. And inside of this room were all the soldiers he had been building and stockpiling. Although Dream had sent out many soldiers to hunt demons, he also had many on standby in his factory. He split them about half and half.

As the door to this certain area opened, soldiers whirred to life and poured out. They weren't just one kind of soldier either, but dozens of different types.

Guardian bots, melee bots, ranged bots, hammer bots, shield bots, kamikaze bots, assassin bots, beast bots, small bots, big bots. All kinds of bots were inside. They could be used in all kinds of different situations, and Sophia had designed each one herself. She found that when they were assorted, the overall combat ability was increased as opposed to an all-rounded or multifunction soldier. 

And there wasn't just a measly few thousand. Inside this huge room alone there were at least 1.5 million. With Dream's vastly increased mining speeds and his excessive amount of construction bots, he was able to make far more than the only 80,000 that had shown up at the Empire for battle.

[I still don't know why you want to withhold these guys so much. I know it's good to be cautious, but it's not like you need an army like this to protect you.]

"It's not about me. It's about the people down below. You never know when the demons will throw a curveball like those assassinations. Just keep making more. More soldiers mean more control."

[Sure, sure. Anyway, I'm taking out 200k. Is that okay?]

"Of course. Round them up and let's leave. More time means more danger for those two.]

 

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