Chapter 242: Chapter 241 – Neutron Star

[...Jeez.]

Seeing all the energy control notifications, Sophia couldn't even say anything. Truthfully though, she wasn't amazingly impressed. Dream had already moved on to manipulating dots that comprised all of energy and matter. He could already manipulate all different types of energy. He even developed technology around it like his nanites. It was only now that he got the skills for it. 

Without much thought, Sophia integrated all these skills under [Particle Manipulation]. Nothing changed when this completed, the skill still just sitting there at MAX level. She nodded at this. [Particle Manipulation] was a far more advanced skill than the energy control skills. Most energy came in the form of particles anyway like photons or bosons or gluons.

After these notifications, Dream continued to float there for a long while. Eventually though, he zoned in. 

"Sophia... Did you feel that?"

[No, I didn't. What happened?]

Sophia shook her head inwardly. She knew something had happened with him, but it obviously didn't include her, so she just let it be. 

Dream heard this and pondered. Since Sophia was technically a separate entity, she didn't get to experience what he did. It was like when only he got to go to the legacy space for his class advancement.

"I touched it... a concept."

Dream spoke, his awe still lingering in his voice. He wasn't sure what happened, or why. All he knew was that when he reached a certain level of comprehension, he had been called upon. He realized that the concepts themselves had pulled him up, as if he reached a prerequisite. With him reaching a certain boundary, he was allowed to leave the smallest mark on those concepts. It was like they had acknowledged his ability to know of their existence and make a connection with them. 

He recounted his experience to Sophia. His story shocked her. She couldn't imagine actually coming into contact with a totally intangible thing. She was amazed that concepts even existed as they did. And to think they could actually be touched. 

She sighed after processing it.

[I don't know what to say.]

"Well, I don't think anything needs to be said. Anyway, I've received all the energy control skills huh? I guess that's nice."

Dream switched topics as he recounted what happened with his actual body. When viewing the space around him, he could actually feel a greater understanding of physical phenomena. He brought out an iron ball from his inventory. 

With this iron ball as the medium, he was able to tamper with the gravitational force emitted from it. He saw space warp ever so slightly as he amplified the gravity of the ball. Not only that, but he could disintegrate all the atoms of the ball, even splitting apart the protons and electrons. He played around with all the subatomic particles like they were marbles. 

"I know I could do this before, but it feels easier now. I also don't need mana to do it, only my soul energy and influence. This is manipulation at its finest. However, I'm curious about the radiant energy manipulation."

Dream put away the iron ball, taking a look around him. 

"I've established photons as waves of information, not true things. But using this skill, I can bend the light around me. I guess I was mistaken and light is a thing, not just information. That, or radiant energy control is the most elementary form of controlling true information."

He spoke as he sent out his influence. The next moment, his figure in space vanished. He was bending all photons away from him, making it so that he was truly invisible. He could also do this by bending space, but this was the most direct way. 

"I guess I'll have to study this more."

Saying that, Dream reappeared. He then looked around him once more, scratching his head. 

"So... Where are we?"

[I have no clue.]

Sophia spoke dully. She had warned Dream of this, and now, they were drifting around in deep space. At the very least, they were far, far away from the solar system. 

"Well, let's see if we can find constellations."

Saying that, Dream looked around him at all the stars. Sophia also looked through his vision, taking in all the star formations and matching them up to any known constellations. 

[Oh, there!]

Suddenly, Sophia stopped him. She could spot a constellation.

[Ursa Major! Only one of the stars is misplaced, but everything else matches up. I've factored in the distances of the stars within the constellation and those approximate points match. Only, the numbers are scaring me. Hey, look at that star right there. It should be the owl nebula. Bend the light like a telescope and view it please.]

"Alright."

Dream nodded before releasing his influence. Suddenly, the light within a 10 meter radius all converged on Dream. Using different parallax calculations and what was seen through Dream's light capture, Sophia was able to pop out a number. 

[We're... about 140,000 light years away from our star...]

Sophia spoke with horror. That was an untraversable distance by normal means.

[Oh my god! We're 140 thousand light years away from Earth!]

"Whoah, chill out. We're not dead yet."

Dream stepped in, calming Sophia down. Truth was though, he wasn't that calm either. 

[If that portal doesn't work and reach us, then we'll be stuck here until the end of time!]

"Well, it worked last time!"

[That was across a couple hundred million miles. Not 140 thousand light years! Do you know how long a light year is? Almost 6 trillion miles! We're 840 quadrillion miles away from home! Going at your top speed of 10 million miles per hour, we would get home in around 10 million years!]

"Yea, I know. Look, we just gotta wait until the portal activates. According to the watch, we have about 2 weeks. If those two weeks pass and we get no portal, then we can establish that I'm cosmically screwed. Until then, we play around in deep space like headless chickens. Now, tell me where the nearest star is so I can have some fun."

[Ugh, fine. Bad news though, the nearest star is 3 light years away. You'll never reach it. In fact, the chances of you running into even a speck of dust is basically zero.]

Sophia calmed a bit before crushing Dream's hopes. In deep space, the distances between everything were so astronomical that it would take a miracle to run into anything. 

However, Dream had different thoughts. 

"Well, if I can maybe tunnel through the chaotic void again, I might just be able to cross that distance."

[...]

Sophia was silent as Dream gave his suggestion. She couldn't find it in her to explain why that was a horrible idea. 

[...We're gonna die while watching the heat death of the universe.]

"Nonsense. My soul may naturally dissipate after only a few million years, so we wouldn't suffer forever. Anyway, let's try it. After all, we've already tunneled once. There's no way tunneling more could possibly pose any problems. Now, where are the neutron stars..."

Dream looked around, quickly spotting a known neutron star. Then, he tore open the dimension, jumping into the chaotic void. Sophia just watched, silently calculating their chances of survival.

Upon diving into the void again, Dream naturally made sure to do things different. For one, he finally had a destination which was the neutron star he just spotted, so after formulating some coordinates to the best of his knowledge, he tunneled. 

The logic behind the portal was that since you didn't have any space in the chaotic void, there was no way to know where you were going or how far you went. However, with coordinates, you could force the void to send you to a certain place. Whenever the void tried to throw you for a ride, those coordinates would correct you. This required you to establish a stable space around yourself, allowing the coordinates to have any meaning. 

With that space bubble and coordinates, you could track where you were in the physical universe in relation to the chaotic void. While Dream didn't totally know everything about coordinates, he did know how to form rough ones. These coordinates didn't have any reference point though. For something like that you'd need to establish a coordinate system around a known celestial object. Clearly, you couldn't have a system like that and expect those who were unaware of it to follow it. 

To Dream's understanding, coordinates worked almost like addresses. The coordinates would describe the direction it had to go and what it would look for on the way there, only stopping if it found the place that matched the descriptions. Naturally, the more detailed the description, the better. 

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Of course, it wasn't as crude as standard words. The coordinates Dream formed worked off of the surrounding star constellations and direction of the destination. Since he knew these things, he could form reliable directions. With that, he was able to direct his shuttling through the void. 

The coordinates were applied to the bubble of space Dream formed around him. After entering the void, he was faced with the same oppressive annihilation as before. Only this time, he was prepared. Not only that, but it only took a second to pop back out. 

When he did, Dream looked around. In the distance was a single, bright blue star. This star was only 12 miles wide, but it rotated several hundred times a second. Dream had appeared about 20 million miles away, and yet he could feel the gravitational force pull the space around him like a whirlpool.

[Hey, watch your time dilation.]

"Yep."

Dream nodded at Sophia's reminder and pulled out his pocket watch. He could see the Earth clock moving faster than his. This was due to the warping of space. Luckily this was only a neutron star and not a black hole, otherwise he would be in danger of moving through time too fast. 

He had another safeguard though. Using aether, he could stabilize space around him. He could also bend the gravitational force of the star. With this, the time dilation was negated. 

He looked back to the neutron star, a smile on his face. 

"Alright, seeing this neutron star crosses one thing off my bucket list."

[You have a bucket list?]

"A very short one, yes. With my power, I was able to do practically everything I've ever wanted to. Anyway, now we get to study a neutron star personally. I really, really wanna analyze that degenerate matter."

Dream giggled like a madman as he inched closer to the star. Neutron stars were one of the most extreme physical existences in the universe, standing among black holes, quasars, and supernovas. Normally, anything physical would be torn apart by such an extreme celestial body. But Dream could negate all the harmful stuff like gamma radiation and pulling of space. He gradually got closer, taking about 20 hours to approach the star. 

When he got closer, he could see it spinning like a top. By now, the space around him was acting like a flag among a hurricane of gravity. The magnetic field was also amazingly strong. With such an extreme environment around him, Dream was actually worried about himself being hurt. Of course, this was only a fear, and he knew he wouldn't be affected. Probably. 

So regardless, he protected himself with a bubble of aether, even going so far as to create a stable channel of space away from the star. With that, he got closer and closer. And when he washed his influence over the star, he was amazed by the extreme physics. 

"This thing is insane! Look at this material! A handful weighs billions of tons. My nanites couldn't even hope to pierce through the surface. They would be obliterated. Only, the gravity is so strong. If I extracted a piece, would it be able to hold itself together, or would it just explode?"

[It would definitely explode. No doubt. The only reason this material can exist in such a dense state is because of the gravity that overcomes the nuclear repulsion forces. If you wanted to handle this degenerate neutron matter, then you would have to take the entire star with you in one piece.]

"...Can I do that?"

[No!]

Sophia shouted, causing Dream to smile wryly. The next moment though, he seriously thought about it. 

"Ok, by all logic though, I should be able to store anything within my inventory. Now, we've studied the inventory and found that it's a space that's produced by my soul and located within me, like another dimension unique to myself. If I use aether on it, then I could expand it and stabilize it. I could definitely fit the neutron star inside."

[The only problem with that is the stability of the space. It would collapse with the introduction of the neutron star. It's too extreme.]

"And if I mitigate the neutron star's effects with my energy control?"

[...I don't know. The upper limit of those skills is unknown. But I do know that you couldn't sustain it for long periods. Eventually, the space would collapse or you would be forced to eject it. As for your inventory collapsing, I have no idea what the effects of that would be.]

"Hm, that's true."

Dream agreed, frowning. He could indeed calm the raging storms of magnetic and gravitational waves. But not forever. It would consume energy faster than he could regenerate it. At some point he would have to let it go, and that would not end well if he were anywhere close to people. 

Suddenly though, he thought of something.

"Hang on, what if I separated space? Not like a bending, but a true spatial split and isolation. If I put it into my inventory then, it wouldn't be able to exert its effects on the inventory space. I could also slow the star down, making its effects on space less extreme."

[...I hate that it's possible.]

"Yes! We're doing this! Alright, first things first, let's slow this down."

Saying that, Dream burst out with his influence. He injected it into the entire star, spending energy on reducing the rotational momentum through his mechanical energy control skill.

"Ugh, that doesn't feel good."

He groaned as energy was depleted at an alarming rate. It took around 90% of his energy to slow the speed by a quarter. Even with just this though, Sophia was amazed. It had to be known that this single neutron star held the mass of an entire star, all compressed in that small space. It was also spinning incredibly quickly, making its momentum reach terrifying heights. To reduce that by a quarter was a feat of absolute power. 

Dream stopped when his energy was depleted, after which he waited for a few hours to get his energy back up. During this time, he realized that his energy regeneration was actually much faster than it used to be. Pleased by this unexpected boon, he reach out to the star again, this time reducing its speed by another half. After one more round, he brought it to a standstill. With that, space was no longer like a hurricane. Now it was only a plummeting vortex of doom. 

Dream checked to make sure his time dilation was good before moving on. 

"Well, I think I can do more things with my surprising energy regeneration. Maybe it's because of the concepts I touched. I'm also feeling a greater attunement with the natural forces. It's pretty nice. Now, spatial splitting."

Saying that, Dream looked at the space around the star. The 3rd dimension existed independent of the space on top of it. The only thing Dream wasn't sure about was whether or not a small independent space could exist on its own and survive the gravitational pull of a star. Would it suck in the space? He didn't know. 

He at least wanted to try though. After drawing upon his aether, he encompassed the neutron star. Because the space around it was so warped, he had to use more aether than normal. Eventually though, he surrounded it. Then, he split space. 

Dream saw a tear, a split that revealed black nothingness. This wasn't the chaotic void, but instead a lack of light. This split spread until it encompassed the entire star. After that, the star's light totally disappeared. The gravity did as well. It was as if there was nothing even there. 

However, Dream felt a great strain on his energy. After splitting space, he had to fight to keep the two spaces separate. The outside space wanted to collapse in on the neutron star's space. He had to make sure that didn't happen. 

Surprisingly though, he found that the space around the neutron star was fine. After isolating the space, the neutron star drew the space around it inward. The barrier of space stopped at the skin of the star though, not moving any further. While the star wanted to pull the space in more, it was stopped by its own matter. This formed a nice little sphere of space that was 12 miles wide.

Seeing this, Dream was happy. The next moment though, he became nervous. He had to put this thing inside his inventory. He didn't know what would happen. 

But he was an adventurous spirit, so he gave it a go anyway. Dream injected aether into his inventory, stabilizing the space several times over. Then, he encompassed the star with his influence. With a flick, the star instantly disappeared as it was inserted into the inventory. It was within the space that existed inside of Dream. 

When this happened, Dream focused entirely on his inventory. While studying aether, he had long since studied his inventory. He found that for some reason, everyone's soul produced their own independent space. This space was unlike the mind space that was immaterial. This inventory could store anything physical. The more powerful one was, the bigger and stronger the space was. In fact, with his power, Dream could reach into other people's inventories and directly take out or insert items. Only those who could protect their soul from him could stop this. 

The inventory space was special, but it still operated like normal space. Upon inserting the bubble of space that held the neutron star, Dream suddenly felt a massive weight come from within him. He quickly realized what was happening. 

"I can isolate the space, but I still have to bear the weight of the mass. This would mean that my inventory is like its own dimension, with my soul as the support. My soul has to bear the weight of everything on top of the dimension, spatially isolated or not. Question is, can I bear this weight..."

Dream frowned as he waited. He could feel a huge pressure, as if his inventory wanted to crack apart. But it didn't. It had just enough integrity to bear the weight of a neutron star. Seeing that, Dream didn't bother reinforcing the space of the inventory, simply locking down the isolated bubble for the star. It wasn't about the strength of the space, but the strength of the dimension. 

[Amazing. You fit an entire damn star in your inventory.]

"Hey, the keeper used one as an energy source. Honestly, if I can't even hold onto a star, then what business do I have trying to match him? Anyway, it doesn't seem like my inventory will break down, so I'm probably okay. Only, this will be very uncomfortable."

Dream sighed, bearing the pressure that was now constantly on his soul. It went so far as to inhibit the use of his skills. His soul was struggling to hold the star and so it was reserving strength to handle it, but Dream didn't give in and kept the star within him. 

"I'll hold it until the portal appears. If my situation gets worse, then I'll leave the star here. Otherwise, I'm taking it with me."

With that declaration, Dream sat and waited. He pondered a myriad of subjects while carrying out small experiments and tests, bidding his time until the portal appeared. 

 

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