Chapter 121 – [Exalted Arcanist]

[We have enough.]

Sophia spoke as another droplet was created. Dream, who had lost quite a bit of energy, stopped condensing mana.

"*sigh* Nice. Let's see, the meeting is in a day. Can I advance by then?"

[Depends on what the system wants. If it's just making the pathways the way I think it does, then this'll only take a few hours.]

"Maybe we should premake the pathways. I don't want to be on the system's schedule."

[That could have possible problems.]

"Worst case the system says I don't have 'proper pathways' and I move on. I don't need the system to determine what pathways are best for me. If it thinks liquid mana enchantments are crap, then so be it."

[Good point. Then let's start now. No time to waste.]

Sophia agreed and began the process of creating Dream's mana pathways.

When Dream spoke about doing a full body pathway, he wasn't joking. The plans Sophia had were to infuse his entire body with liquid mana. This included his blood, muscles, brain, bones, and everything in between. And while one would think that you couldn't combine solid muscle with liquid mana, there was a peculiarity about liquid mana that you had to note.

Liquid mana, while it indeed had its 3-dimensional form, was still primarily 4 dimensional. This meant that as long as you controlled the liquid in a certain way, it wouldn't appear in the 3rd dimension. This was why they could integrate liquid mana with Aegis' solid steel particles.

And this was what they planned to do with the big tub of transparent liquid man. They would allocate different volumes to different parts of his body and enchant it appropriately. They would then tie all these enchantments to his skills and nucleus, effectively wiring a direct connection from his body to soul.

So they began. For this, Dream stripped nude and levitated in the middle of the room. After that, the globe network moved and surrounded him while Aegis also turned into a cloud and encompassed him. 

With the bright globes of light surrounding him, the tub of liquid mana also opened and flowed out towards his body. As it got close, the liquid suddenly disappeared and moved inside his body.

[First, the bones.]

When she said that, mana became conglomerating in Dream's bones. The existing enchantment was agitated and wiped before the globe network activated, writing a totally new and improved enchantment into his bones. 

This enchantment had two primary functions. One was sturdiness. Since his bones were made of the same steel particles as Aegis, they needed to be able to bond and resist deformation. And should they be deformed, they needed to quickly recover and reform. 

The second function of the bones were much more complex though. Basically, the bones acted as the anchor for all the other enchantments around his body. They would be the central core of everything that went on. This included the dense mana environment that was always active, stealth abilities, mana movement, and more. 

In fact, Sophia even created a mini globe system and integrated it with his bone particles. This was the simplest way to get the best functionality.

After this was finished, they moved on to the rest of his body. They enchanted the muscles and skin for strength and flexibility as well as impact dissipation. They enchanted his blood for mana circulation and recovery as well as giving it the ability to regenerate his body. They then enchanted his heart for mana concentration.

His brain and nervous system were improved and given quicker signal speeds and finer control. His lungs were enchanted to bring in, filter, and pass mana to the rest of the body, being the main recovery mechanism he had. And his other sensory organs along with miscellaneous parts of his body were also enhanced. 

But while different systems in his body were given different primary functions, they were all tied together and functioned as one harmonized system. So while the muscles and brain were very different from each other, the enchantments could be passed between them. And if he were to ever lose all his blood, which functioned as a recovery mechanism, he would still be able to regenerate. His functions would not be limited or centralized by any single piece.

As for his DNA and other originally biological functions, those were kept and given enhanced functionality. While they were part of his old human self, they actually had a great role in maintaining the systems of his body. They were originally a set of instructions anyway, and despite practically all of his body being synthetic, his DNA was still able to fully construct and maintain his body. 

An example of his DNA taking action was during his recovery. Although Aegis had helped with piecing his body back together, it still took his DNA and natural regeneration to repair things on a microscopic level. Aegis wasn't capable of doing that, so at a certain point he just stepped back and let the natural systems of Dream's body operate.

This was the part of Dream's body that was still considered 'biological'. Other than that, everything else was made synthetic. 

After a few hours, the entire tub of liquid mana was emptied and integrated with his body. Every enchantment was made using this liquid mana and they were the most powerful enchantments he had ever made up until that point.

[Now we just need to tie everything to your soul. This should only take a minute.]

Dream nodded as Sophia began to create strings of mana from every point in his body. Thousands of strings were created and brought to his soul hovering in the 4th dimension. They then began to assimilate with the mana around and within the soul, attaching to it directly.

"...Huuhh."

Dream took deep breaths as he processed the connection being made. Dense mana flowed in and out along with each breath he took. And soon after, the connections were finished. Data immediately began flowing to and from his soul and body as well as super dense streams of mana.

As his body was now connected with his soul, just like with his skills, he was given ultimate control over himself. If before, the connection between his soul and body was wireless, it was now a fiber connection. He became aware of each cell, each muscle fiber, each neural synapse. There was nothing hidden about his body anymore and its functions could be manipulated as he wished.

"...So everything is connected to my soul now. This feels...interesting."

[Although only some mages used liquid mana for their pathways, they would still have this kind of awareness and control after they made their own. Now wonder it took being a class 3 to manipulate mana. They would find it incredibly difficult otherwise without having this kind of soul-body connection.]

"Indeed. But for me who could already manipulate, this only magnifies the ability. I recover mana even quicker, I'm stronger, I'm faster, and I can take harder hits. I don't think that demon would be able to do the same thing again. I could give him a run for his money."

[But we still aren't done yet. The pathways are done, and it's time to choose our class.]

When she said that, Dream was prompted yet again with the class selection.

<You cannot level up before choosing a class>

<Your selection of classes will be based on your Profile and Experience thus far.>

<The choice you make cannot be taken back. Excess experience will be accumulated and gained after the class selection has been made.>

<Select a class.>

"Same selection. And I'm thinking the same thing."

[Number 2?]

"Number 2. Am I ready to select it?"

[I think you are.]

"Then here we go."

<Class -[Exalted Arcanist]- has been chosen!>

<Experience will be compiled and reformed.>

<Warning! The Individual has undergone a change in species.>

<Reclassifying...>

<Reclassified. The individual is now a [Maghdisynthetic Human Male]>

<Alert! Advancement pre-requisite met. Mana Pathways nonessential.>

<Experience will be compiled and reformed.>

<[Sophia] will evolv------------>

[Warning! Evolutionary occurrence detected. Rerouting...]

"Huh?"

Dream let out a confused sound as Sophia spoke in an odd manner. 

[Pre-designated connection alternative found.]

[Attempting to connect through the Title: [Origin Seeker].]

[Connection established.]

{Hm? Oh. Oh my...}

"Uhh...who's there?"

Dream panicked at all the sudden happenings and the weird voice that echoed through the room. And since someone was apparently there, he put on clothes.

{Pfft. Do you think clothes can block my vision I mean seriously now I'm watching you from another realm and that should prove just how ineffective they are.}

"It's for my sake, not yours."

{Fair point. Now I guess I should introduce myself since the last time I descended you were asleep. I am the very powerful dude as written on the letter inside your inventory.}

When he said that, a paper came and flew out of Dream's inventory without his permission. It landed in front of him, highlighting the signature at the bottom.

"...You're him."

{That is so and speaking of last time where are those pretty little girlfriends of yours and please don't tell me they were snatched by another man cause I mean if they were then either that man must've been beyond exceptional or they weren't as smart as I thought they were.}

"Uhh, they were taken. I have yet to take them back."

{Oh my that's quite a shame.}

"It is. So..."

{I know you must have many questions and I know what you want to ask but I'm afraid that my time is limited and if you want your precious Sophia to be evolved then I'll need to focus on that although I guess I do have the time to congratulate you on such amazing progress cause those skills you have and are going to receive are truly rare maybe I should integrate one with your skill and not to mention your species and how even I've never seen it before.}

"...Thanks."

{Of course now because of the way that your skill evolved I'm going to have to bring it down quite the unique path and that requires certain consents from you but since I already know the answers you will give I'll just say yes to them all.}

"...Ok?"

{Great now I'll begin your skill's evolution and then I'll have to send you on your way because like I said earlier my time is limited however you shouldn't fret about a missed opportunity for information because as long as you survive and gain more strength you will be able to find the answers for yourself and possibly even have the opportunity to contact me so go out and keep doing what you're doing and you may be the one to forge your own path though I must say that its a shame the Record was able to find your homeworld I guess I should've expected that considering the skills I gave you but I also gave them to the others as well...}

"Wait, what?"

{You'll find out later! So now, I must bid you adieu. Have fun with your new and improved girlfriend!}

"..."

Dream went quiet. What the hell was that?

[Skill evolution complete.]

[[Sophia] is level 1-]

[Ugh, yes! I know I'm level 1!]

With a shout, Sophia interrupted the update. 

"Sophia?"

[Sorry about that. I guess the evolution triggers a mechanism to automatically contact that dude. I guess his evolution is better than one from the system though, so I'm not that displeased.]

"Neither am I. You're still my Sophia. I'm glad."

[Hehe, yes I am. But before we check things out, you need to finish your advancement.]

When she said that, the notifications continued.

<[Magic] will be evolved.>

<[Material Magic] will be evolved.>

<You have gained the Active Skill: [Particle Manipulation]>

<You have gained the Passive Skill: [Arcana]>

"Ooohh...Argghhh!!"

After the notifications ended, Dream suddenly started feeling immense growing pains. When he looked inwardly at his soul, he saw that all of his skill signatures were being changed and whipped around everywhere. Even his nucleus was somehow growing.

"Ughh!! I thought I would have to do this again!"

Dream went to the floor and rolled around, yelling at the ceiling and walls. Mana was sucked towards him excessively as if he had become a black hole, and the once dense mana fog had disappeared in only minutes. Though this was only the beginning, and over time, the pain only increased.

Although Dream thought this would end quickly, the pain only died down after 10 hours. The amount of mana that had circulated in and out of him would be considered absurd by all sense of the word, but Dream, who had been watching his soul the entire time, knew exactly why so much mana was used.

His soul had gone through extensive upgrades. Not only was his nucleus bigger and stronger, but his skills were on a whole other realm compared to before. They were almost entirely different and Dream wondered whether or not they actually did anything similar to before.

"Hehe...Hahahaha!! Ahhh, yea! Whooo!!"

Dream started laughing and cheering while on the floor as if he were riding a rollercoaster. 

[You good?]

"I'm amazing! I feel so powerful! I can totally understand the phrase 'drunk on power'. It truly is an amazing feeling!"

Dream stood up with a wide grin. 

"Status!"

|Profile|

Name: Dream

Species: Maghdisynthetic Human Male

Class: [Exalted Arcanist]

Titles: [Origin Seeker]

Level: 213

Stats: Strength- A      Agility- A+

Stamina- A+       Magic- A+

Passive Skills: [Sophia] Lvl. 1, [Arcana] Lvl. 1

Active Skills: [Summons From Another World], [Particle Manipulation] Lvl. 1

Dream looked through everything, though his eyes quickly darted to his stats.

"A+. Not quite in the S range. But that honestly doesn't feel right. I went through ridiculous amounts of mana, I feel like I should be S tier."

[I agree. But maybe you're right on that cusp. Either way, you can most definitely manipulate S amounts of mana. You've always been able to move much more mana than you stored.]

"True. I guess I shouldn't be greedy either. Other than that, my other stats also went up. What's with my strength and constantly being the lowest though? I mean, I know I'm not a fighter, but still. And level 213 huh. Not bad. Now, what's up with my species?"

Dream looked at the new species that the system classified him as. 

"Maghdisynthetic Human Male. What the hell is Maghdisynthetic?"

[Well, synthetic is synthetic. And maghdi is relating to magic. So a magical synthetic human? It's rather fitting actually.]

"Hmm. I guess. Either way, I'm kind of glad human is still in there. Nice to see that I haven't taken myself totally off that evolutionary path."

[Sentimental?]

"More of a matter of perspective. I don't know if I would handle being an artificial robot all that well. I mean, although I'm synthetic, my systems are still biologically based, like a bionic. And I still plan to procreate, so that's not something I want to take away from myself. I can still do that, right?"

[Very much so. More so than any regular human actually.]

"Noice. Though I wonder how that would work for Luna and Iris. It would be weird, but maybe I'll have to inquire with the Old Man."

[...]

"...Actually, forget I ever said that. Eugh... gross."

Sp4de

Just wanna say, I'm thankful for all of you. You guys make my days brighter, and today, I hope you can make someone else's day brighter as well. Don't take things for granted!

Anyway, have a great day everyone! 

With thanks,

-Your friendly neighborhood Turkey (gobble gobble)