Origin Seeker

Chapter 252: Situation

After Tersa and Dream came to a consensus, Dream was quick to begin transforming the planet.

The pool of nanites quickly became a lake, and then a sea. The nanites constructed dozens of fusion reactors that further powered their expansion. The nanites also formed clusters that would launch themselves to all corners of the planet, establishing more sites of expansion. 

Dream was going to engulf this entire planet, turning it all into pure material. After that, there would be nothing he couldn't do with it. 

While the nanites expanded, Dream had them create massive machines at different points on the planet. These machines would be responsible for terraforming the planet, modifying its atmosphere in order to make it hospitable. At the same time, factories were erected that began producing powerful bots and ships. Naturally, Dream had to establish massive magic machines that would be responsible for enchanting everything. His bots and ships could no longer survive in space with just physical material. They needed to be magically enhanced. 

Thankfully, Tersa was there to make sure that these huge enchantment machines would remain powered. Dream and Tersa were quick to cooperate. He showed her his enchantments and created systems that she could follow. He also passed to her huge streams of data that detailed his enchantment and magical knowledge. There were also packets of data detailing scientific knowledge that she would find useful to know. 

And Tersa didn't disappoint. After processing things for mere hours, she was able to form understandings. Just because Tersa had only come to be awakened in the last several hours didn't mean she couldn't rapidly adapt. Her soul was incredibly powerful, beyond anything Dream had ever seen before. This meant her wisdom was vast, like an empty vessel just waiting to be filled. Dream had only brought along the water of knowledge, and she could hold it all. 

It wasn't long before Tersa was able to move mana like a conductor, even making her own enchantments. However, it quickly became clear that her understanding of magic was different from Dream's. She lacked the precision he had, choosing to take a more macroscopic approach to enchanting things. 

Luckily this wasn't a problem. Dream was able to make it so that powering his enchantments was straightforward. Like that, he set up magical and material industries across the planet. This could all be controlled from a distance too. 

Dream spent 2 days of time on this planet, constantly interacting with Tersa. She absorbed everything he said to her with the curiosity and wonder of a child. After all, he was the sole existence she knew about and could interact with. 

At that time though, Dream decided to leave. Hearing this, Tersa was scared. 

"Master, you're leaving me?"

Tersa asked, slight fear in her voice. She couldn't leave the planet since she was the planet, and Dream was the only person she knew. If he were to leave, she would be all alone. 

Dream quickly understood what she was worried about. He spoke. 

"Yes. I can't stay here forever. I plan on visiting the other planets before returning to one with life. Although, I might just be able to take you with me."

"Yes! Master, please wait a moment."

"Huh?"

Dream was surprised as Tersa suddenly disappeared. He was just thinking of a way to take her with him through something like an avatar. If he could connect her senses to a mechanical device, then he could build her an avatar that she could control from across planets, allowing her to go with him. 

But it seemed like Tersa had other plans. Since Dream was curious, he followed her as she sunk back into her core. When he appeared outside her core though, he was stunned. He could see a chunk of her core be torn away from itself, forming a mana body. Then, her soul actually generated some soul strings and inserted them into the mana body. 

Dream stood by and watched this. Within a few minutes, this mana body seemed to gain sentience. The figure then flew over to him. 

"Master, I am ready."

The figure spoke, Tersa's voice coming from it. Dream looked at the mana body for a bit before speaking. 

"What did you do?"

"I inserted a piece of my soul into this body. This way, I can go with you. The soul within the body and within my core are connected regardless of distance."

"Are you okay?"

"I have been slightly weakened, but it is negligible. I will recover over time anyway."

"...Very well."

Dream let out a breath. Tersa was surprisingly decisive about this. While what she did was done crudely, there was no doubt that it worked. Dream himself had left a sliver of his soul with his wives, and this allowed him to maintain a connection to them across unfathomably vast distances. Tersa would no doubt be able to control and experience things through this avatar of hers across planets. This was the most surefire way to do what she wanted. 

"Let's go then. While I remain in this star system, you will travel with me."

Dream spoke as he enveloped them with aether, shuttling through space to another planet. When Tersa heard him though, she was once again worried. 

"Master, will you leave this star system in the future?"

"Yes, I will. There is a primary world that I need to take my sister to. That world is in another star system. My wives are also very far away, and I need to find them."

"...I see."

"But don't worry. By that time, you won't be alone. I will keep my promise and ensure that I bring life to your world. It may take a while, but it will be done."

"Thank you, master. But even with others, I fear that I will miss your presence."

"Aww, that's so nice."

Tersa spoke dully. Dream was buttery after hearing her words though. He went to ruffle her hair before realizing she didn't have any on her mana body. Seeing what Dream wanted to do though, Tersa instantly generated mana hair, which he went and ruffled. 

Dream couldn't help but think of Tersa as a little child. He was now greatly looking forward to taking her adventuring. He wanted to fill her with exciting and wondrous experiences. He had already given her a lot of knowledge, but that came from him. Tersa still needed to experience things for herself and form her own way of thinking, making her own memories. Dream was excited to see this happen, like a father with his daughter. 

Dream quickly shuttled through the chaotic void with Tersa by his side. Within a second, he arrived at another planet. Dream was quick to shoot straight to the Terra core. However, when he arrived and swept through the core with his Will, he was surprised to see nothing. 

There was no soul. In fact, this Terra Core was much smaller than Tersa's core. Tersa's core alone was the size of a planet, and this one was a fraction of that size at about 800 miles in diameter. In fact, the entire planet was much smaller too. The core only held the power to repel the chaotic space mana a certain distance, resulting in the planet being the size it was. 

"This is a Terra Core? Like me?"

Tersa was curious as she observed the Terra Core. Dream shook his head though. 

"This core doesn't have a soul like you. It's a pure mana crystal."

"I see. So what do you plan to do?"

Tersa turned to him curiously. Dream pondered for a second before answering. 

"I'm going to harvest it. Or, I'm thinking about merging it with you. You can absorb the core and I can add the planet's material to yours, making it bigger. Think of it as a present from me to heal your wound."

"Really? Thank you, master!"

Tersa clapped excitedly. Dream smiled at her before raising his hand. In it was a ball of nanites, and he dropped it onto the planet. It rapidly spread like on Tersa's planet, expanding to endlessly engulf everything. 

After that, Dream went and visited every other planet. There were 6 planets in this star system. One was the asura world, and another was Tersa's. The other four were barren. 

Even the Terra Cores of these barren planets held no soul, simply being utterly massive spheres of mana crystal. After arriving at each planet, Dream dropped a ball of nanites onto them. These nanites were programmed to transform the planets. After that, Dream would move the planets to Tersa's, allowing her to eat them whole. The result would be a massive exoplanet that Tersa and Dream would have dominion over.

With that, Dream finally decided to head back. With Tersa, he shuttled back to the main planet, arriving at the residence Melody was resting in. He appeared inside her room, checking her soul. 

"Looks like she's mostly recovered. Good."

Dream nodded. Meanwhile, Tersa was observing Melody curiously.

"Who is this, master?"

"This is my sister."

"Sister..."

Tersa mumbled. She knew what a sister was because Dream had shown her. Still, she found it curious. Dream was her master, and this person was important to Dream. Melody was also the second person she was introduced to. 

At the same time, Tersa personally observed Melody's body. All the little details like her hair, skin, shapes and curves. Tersa took it all in, forming ideas in her own mind. 

Meanwhile, Dream stood to the side. He was taking in data from the bots and satellites he sent out. 

In the past few days, the satellites had imaged every inch of the planet. Dream now had a general layout of the place. He knew that there were thousands of different settlements, whether they were cities or empires. The Red Eye Clan was only one of these many settlements, though, it seemed to be one of the more powerful ones. 

Sophia also calculated different estimates. Cities spanned dozens of miles, and empires were the size of entire continents. There were easily billions, if not tens of billions of people on this planet. Because it was so massive, it naturally held a much more diverse and expansive populus than somewhere like Earth. This planet was bigger than Jupiter, after all. Only, most of the planet was empty. 

Getting to this point though, Dream wondered about the asura clan he was involved with. Vela said they were fighting a war, but with so much space and resources, why was there a need to fight? 

After Dream received more data though, he had his questions answered. Dream had tasked some bots to find some mana crystal mines, and several had gone to track down the ones that the Red Eye Clan owned. Sure enough, his bots found 8 of these mines. Not only that, but they found several other mines not far from the clan's territory that were being controlled by foreign people. This was the Blue Blood Clan. 

The Red Eye Clan was fighting the Blue Blood Clan over these mines. This made much more sense than just territory disputes. The mana crystals from these mines were used as a currency, so mining in these deposits was literally mining money. The more mines, the more money. It was a liquid asset that could be used to expand their infrastructure and strengthen their clan. The Red Eye Clan naturally couldn't turn down this opportunity. 

With that, Dream more or less understood their war situation. Still, his plans didn't change. He was planning on being a defense contractor, supplying this clan with powerful weapons and tools that would win them the war. After that, he would use the name of the clan to get Melody into the Blood Drop Clan. He would follow her by also building weapons for the Blood Drop Clan, both of them getting taken to the primary world. From there, he would work on finding Luna and Alice, wherever they might be. 

Getting to this point, Dream sighed. Along with all the new things he had to research, he had many things on his plate. Just creating weapons would take up lots of his energy, and recovering took time. If he had to make weapons for people on Vela's level all the time, then he would be swamped. Luckily, it didn't seem like there were too many people on her level. Hopefully. 

Dream stuck around the residence for a few hours. Tersa also wandered the place, even going outside to observe all the plant life and animals. Her mood was wondrous as she pranced around like a little deer, taking in every sight she possibly could. And since she had constructed her body of pure mana crystal material, she was much more powerful than regular class 4's. Her avatar wasn't in much danger doing as she wished. 

After a while though, Dream was alerted. Melody finally woke up. 

"Ugh, god..."

Melody was groggy as she became conscious. After taking a few seconds to wake up, she looked around and found Dream. 

"How long was I out?"

"Three days. Or, three of our days. On this planet, it was a bit less than one day."

"Right."

Melody couldn't bother thinking about the technicalities. She massaged her temples as she sat up. After taking some time though, she found herself oddly refreshed. Her senses felt sharper and her mind clearer. Her body was bubbling with strength. 

"Good job with the angel by the way. Now if you do that several times over, you'll be able to hit class 5 strength levels as a class 4."

"Several times over? I don't ever plan on doing that again, thank you very much. At the very least, if I get into a battle like that then I better be getting something out of it next time. I got no experience from that angel."

Melody huffed as she stood and stretched her body. All that battling felt like it was for nothing. Such a being would probably give her tons of experience if it were alive. Dream scratched his head. 

"Getting experience would ruin the point though. Anyway, it's time to visit Vela. I've got work to do and you have a war to fight in. You want experience? Now's the time to get it."

"Wait, really? I'm fighting in the war?"

"Yes."

"Yes!"

Melody cheered with a happy smile. A warzone with class 4's everywhere couldn't be a better place for her. She would be able to slaughter to her heart's content, gaining tons of experience in the process. She couldn't wait.

Dream shook his head before leaving the residence with her. The two flew toward the main area of the clan. Along the way though, Tersa joined back up with them. This came as a big surprise to Melody. 

"Who's this?"

Melody asked as Tersa took up a position on Dream's side. Tersa had a blank mana body with only the vague features of a woman. Regardless, it seemed Dream found a friend while she had been asleep. 

"Melody, this is Tersa. She's the Terra Core of a nearby planet. Apparently they have intelligence."

Dream spoke, his words revealing tons of shocking information. Melody mulled over his words before connecting several dots. She knew what a Terra Core was, and she knew there were nearby planets. Tersa was the avatar of a planetary core with intelligence. 

"...What the hell?"

Melody's eyebrow raised as she looked at Tersa. Dream spoke again. 

"Don't tell anyone, by the way. I don't need people getting ideas. She's just here to follow me and explore, so treat her like a little sister."

"...Right."

Melody shook her head. She goes to sleep for three days and he comes back with the avatar of a planet. At this point, nothing he did could surprise her anymore. She just went with it. 

After a bit of flying, the three arrived back at the clan. Dream took them straight into the hall of elders, bypassing the flustered guards and calling for Vela. 

"Dream! I never got a message back from you."

Seeing that he was here, Vela quickly flew out of the building. Hearing her, Dream shrugged. 

"I was rather far away, so your device might not have been able to reach me. Anyway, Melody is good and I'm here now. I think it's about time we got to work."

"Oh, right. Come with me."

Vela waved them over before walking into the building. 

"I've already made arrangements, so Melody can train in the clan or go fight in the war. That's the best place for experience. As for you, we have a list of things you can choose to do. Anything from making weapons to reinforcing ships. Whatever you choose to do will be considered payment. Also, one of our Elders has agreed to train Melody. He's a class 5 and one of our best sword fighters."

"Oh, very good."

Dream nodded pleasantly. Meanwhile, as they spoke, the group came upon a set of doors. As Vela knocked, Dream looked around and saw that Tersa was gone. He shrugged as Vela was granted entry. 

The three walked into a large room. This large room was a single office. At the head of the room sat an old man with white hair and a wrinkly face. All around him was a fluctuating power filled with invisible blades. Dream could feel the aura of the sword from this power, realizing that this must be some kind of Will that was devoted entirely to the art of the blade. This man unconsciously affected even the surrounding space. It was clear that he was supremely powerful.

While other people might think this was cool, Dream couldn't help but lower his evaluation of the man. From his aura Dream could feel a power depth far surpassing that of a class 5, no doubt a class 6. But because this man couldn't seem to have control over his aura, Dream wasn't impressed. Dream was a man of absolute control. His power would never do something unless he commanded it to. This was like having dogs on a leash. This man clearly couldn't keep his in check.