Chapter 158 – Dwarves

At the time that Dream, Luna, and Iris were discussing the avatar, he was actually nearly done with his upgrade. And because of this, the girls decided to stay there and wait for him to finish.

And so, for the next 6 hours, the three watched some movies as Dream's calves, feet, neck, and face muscles were upgraded. 

When he was about to start restructuring his neck and face muscles, he had actually warned the girls about it. During that period, he wouldn't be able to talk or do anything as if he were paralyzed. Unfortunately, the girls saw this as an opportunity to play around.

As he started they didn't do anything, but midway through, Iris began playing around with his cheeks. Since his muscles were basically mush, she could pull and squish all she wanted, and she started forming his face into weird shapes. 

Although he thought they would be cautious about it, they totally disregarded the notion of his upgrade being messed up. This confused him until he realized that Sophia had told them that he would be fine. And although he would indeed be fine with them playing around, he hadn't been planning to tell them that.

So for an hour, both girls played with his mushy face, laughing their butts off. Dream just sat there and closed his eyes, not bothering to stop them. 

That was until his face suddenly hardened. Literally. After the muscles were finally restructured and secured, they tightened up, and Dream broke out into a wide grin while Iris pulled on his cheek. 

"Hm?"

"Hope you had fun."

"...You're finished? But I thought there was another hour left."

"That was a lie."

"...Sophia you traitor."

[Not my fault! He already had his way with me after I leaked that confidential information...]

"...So that's why your eyes were closed."

Iris suddenly understood. The relationship between Sophia and Dream was no secret to the girls, though they found the way they interacted odd. It was hard to imagine them doing what they did inside a so called 'mind space'. Either way, they knew that when Dream was 'sleeping', he was often up in this mind space with Sophia.

"You know, I think you two would be the perfect people to test my new muscles out on."

Dream smiled as he eyed Luna and Iris. When they met his domineering gaze, both had totally different reactions. Luna began to smile and lick her lips as if challenging him, but Iris began to back away, like a scared bunny. 

"Uhh, you could test your muscles out on the demons too?" (Iris)

"Nice try."

"Actually, I had been planning to train..."

"Oh no you don't."

"Eek!"

As Iris backed out, Dream dashed over and grabbed her. She squeaked cutely as they began wrestling around. Luna also joined in after stripping half her clothes off. Dream was amazed by how fast she got into the mood, but it only served to rile him up even more.

The three were soon tangled up on the couch, engaged in a workout of their own.

.........

The next day, Dream sent out the avatar from the factory. By itself, it shot through the atmosphere and down towards the animal continent.

Its destination: The Dwarven Empires.

More specifically though, the largest and most powerful Dwarven Empire. This was where nearly all of the class 4 dwarves resided, and its where the meeting with the church and dwarves was occurring. In fact, it was beginning in 10 minutes.

Flying at supersonic speeds, the avatar created a streak of light in the sky before quickly descending, landing on the ground lightly. Around it was nothing but a barren, mountainous landscape. However, nearly 100 meters below, hundreds of thousands of life signs could be detected.

The avatar looked around before spotting a large carved out cave. A gate was built around it, and there were a few dozen burly and armored men standing around it. All of them were armed, and much to Dream's surprise, they weren't as short as he thought they would be.

The avatar started walking over to the gate while in stealth. Dream observed the dwarves as it did so.

The dwarven soldiers were burly, some had beards, most of which were braided, and had ferocious expressions. They definitely didn't look like the type you wanted to piss off. As for their height, some of these soldiers stood at a solid 5 feet tall, though none of them really surpassed that. Some only approached 4ft 5in.

They were definitely shorter than normal, but not that much shorter. Plus, when one considered their huge frame and mean expression, their height was quickly disregarded, at least as a bias. Nobody would assume they were weak. 

After observing for a bit, the avatar bypassed the gate entirely and headed into the cave. After a bit of twisting, turning, and descending, he arrived at yet another gate. This one blocked off the city behind it entirely, and he would have to open a door to get in. 

So the avatar did. Using his mana to distort the area around the door, the avatar opened it and slipped in totally undetected. Even the enchantments around the gate did nothing to stop him.

After he slipped in, the avatar was greeted with a huge bustling city. The buildings rose to the ceiling that was nearly 1000 meters high, and he could even detect underground structures that went a whole 600 meters down. The ceiling was held up by the massive stone buildings that acted as pillars all around the city.

After looking at everything for a bit, the avatar took to the air. When it did, it could see the end of the city about 80 miles away. 

Other than size though, there were plenty of peculiarities about this city. For one, the temperature was very high, nearly 120 degrees. Two, there were objects embedded in the ceiling that shone down with bright light, acting as an underground sun. Three, the mana density in the city was insane. Compared to the outside ambient mana, the mana in the city was nearly 12 times denser. 

Though the reason for this mana density was quickly discovered by Dream. Turns out, the city had an absurdly big enchantment that spanned the entire ceiling, from wall to wall. It was far more powerful and complex than the one that the Spire had.

And although Dream kind of wanted to study it, the meeting was starting soon. Turning his head away from the ceiling, the avatar flew off to the center of the city where a massive castle stood. This was where the meeting was.

Bypassing gates and doors, the avatar stealthily made its way through the building. And when it finally came upon the door to the conference room, it undid its stealth and walked in.

"Hm?"

"Who're you?"

After suddenly barging in, everyone who sat at the table stood and eyed the avatar warily. It had approached without them noticing at all, and they didn't recognize it, at least at first.

"Relax. It's me, Dream."

The avatar spoke with Dream's normal voice. The Cardinals and dark elves who were there tilted their heads. They recognized the voice, but this golem threw them off a bit.

"Dream? You..."

"This is my avatar. My actual body is doing some work, so I sent this."

"...I see. Well, as long as you're here, there shouldn't be any problems. Actually, we were just discussing the alliance with the Dhyvara."

"Who's that?"

"That would be me."

A low, booming voice sounded out in response to Dream's question. When he looked over, he could see a dwarf only a few inches shorter than him. Apparently 'Dhyvara' was the word for a dwarven class 4.

The dwarf that spoke was clearly extremely strong. His muscles bulged, and the fur cape he wore behind him along with the thick metal armor made him look like a Viking. Even his beard seemed like an untamed animal. Although Dream couldn't sense his aura through the avatar, he was sure that it was menacing. Even the avatar had its combat ability reduced from the mana suppressing force.

Along with him, there were 15 other dwarves there who Dream assumed were the class 4's. All of them were men, except for one who, despite being rather burly herself, retained a bit of her feminine charm. Dream wondered what she specialized in.

"Well hello. I'm Dream."

"I've heard. Though this is far from what I expected."

"Had I not made a bit of an advancement recently, you would've seen the real me. Sorry if this is insufficient."

"Hmm, I'm actually rather curious. You were able to make a golem that can carry your voice from far away and even let you see and hear. I've never seen such a thing. And from the looks of it, it's rather powerful, though not powerful enough to conceal the weapons inside."

"So you really can see those. I wasn't sure if the enchantments on this thing would be enough."

"Although I can, I doubt the others could as well. What are those weapons? I can only recognize the blade, but not the box of swirling heat nor the metal rod."

"One is a reactor and the other is a railgun. Unfortunately I won't be able to explain either to you."

"Hmm, seems like you're a unique type of genius when it comes to crafting and enchantments."

"Honestly, not as much as you think I am."

"Don't be so humble. Others may not be able to sense the true form of your golem, the complexity of the enchantments, or realize the difficulty behind giving it the functions you have, but I can. I've spent most of my life seeking perfection for my crafts and pursuing a realm beyond our own, but you... You're far beyond what I could ever hope to achieve."

"..."

Everyone went silent in shock as the chieftain spoke with the utmost seriousness and solemnity, especially the other dwarves. In their Empires, crafting, blacksmithing, and even enchanting were all taken very seriously. Although combat ability still held highest priority, the dwarves more or less saw it as a way to enable them to create stronger items. 

Even in this room, the class 4 dwarves spent the majority of their time researching and crafting, and they were known as the best craftsmen in all of the dwarven Empires, even the world. 

But the Dwarven Chief, known as perhaps one of the most skilled smithers and craftsman in the world, said that Dream had already surpassed his ability, by leaps and bounds as well. This amazed the other dwarves, especially when they considered the unyielding attitude the chief usually had. 

Dream was also a bit surprised. He knew the chief could see through his avatar, but he didn't know he could see so deeply. From his words, it seemed like he knew that this avatar was made from small, bound together particles along with compact enchantments. Nobody else had ever seen through that, so it really spoke to this chief's ability for him to be able to.

Other than that though, Dream wasn't surprised about much else. He knew that nobody else could do what he did, especially on this world. They would be hard pressed to create even a small batch of particles, much less bind them together in an enchantment. And to give them the functionality he did would require his skills, or at least skills on his level. 

'This chief seems to have a quite bit of skill though. He can see what I've done, which is the first step to replicating it. Maybe I could help him out a little bit.'

Dream pondered as he and the chieftain looked at each other. The other class 4's also watched them, refraining from speaking.

"Chief."

"Yes?"

"As I said, I'm not as much of a genius as you think I am. And since you seem to be so devoted to crafting and such, here."

Dream took out a bracelet. He was planning on equipping all of the class 4's here, so he sent some with the avatar.

"What's this?"

"A communication device. With it, you'll be able to talk to anyone else with this device from anywhere in the world. Though I'm also going to be giving you another function. With that, you'll have access to a repository of scientific knowledge."

"Scientific?"

"Science is the study of the universe, its laws, its phenomena, and its function. With science, we can manipulate the world around us and create devices with functions beyond our own ability. One example is the bracelet in your hand. I would never be able to achieve communication from anywhere in the world without science, much less in such a small object that anyone can use."

"...So your knowledge is inside this thing?"

"You could think of it that way. You'll understand when you start using it. And as you begin to study, you'll understand how I was able to create the things I do. I'm also planning on letting the other dwarves study. Here."

Saying that, Dream tossed out more bracelets to the other class 4 dwarves. They all put it on, and the bracelet began carrying them through the setup. Once they were done, they automatically had each other as contacts, letting them speak to each other in their minds from long-range, like long-distance telepathy.

Though they were also notified of the extra function, which was access to a wikipedia-like program. This program would help teach them about all aspects of science, even going so far as to help them integrate it with their crafting.

After looking through the bracelet for a bit, the chieftain looked back toward Dream.

"Why would you give up such valuable knowledge?"

"Why not? The dwarves love their crafting, so I'm giving you something to help you dive deeper into that world. And when my ships begin to arrive with more bracelets for you to distribute, the dwarves you give them to will also have access to that knowledge."

"...How many more of these bracelets will come?"

"A little under a million will be arriving tomorrow."

"...I've underestimated you."

"Again, it's nothing much. Speaking of, where are we with that alliance? Did the Cardinals talk to you about that?"

"Yes, we touched on it a bit. We're willing to join, although the way we contribute will be mainly in the form of gear and resources. That's our specialty after all."

"Sure. Since you've decided, the details can be gone over with the Cardinals. You'll also be notified of when the bracelets arrive for distribution tomorrow. If there's anything else or anyone you need to talk to, you should be able to do it over the bracelet. All class 4's of the Church and Elven Empire have a bracelet."

"...I see."

"Then if there's nothing else, I'll be on my way. Oh! Cardinals, where are we with the United Empire?"

Dream suddenly remembered something and turned to the Cardinals. They were startled a bit, but answered.

"We've already sent people over for talks, and it's looking good. The United Empire is more than open to support. Although one thing they aren't so okay with is you taking over their logistical operations."

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense. But I guess it's fine too. How about this, tomorrow I'll send my avatar to the United Empire so I can talk with whoever is in charge. I'll make sure there's a batch of bracelets ready to distribute and that they have the necessary intelligence needed to move their armies. I'll also notify them that the other Empires are ready to cooperate, the details of which will also be handled by the Church."

"Of course."

"Great. Now if there's nothing else, I will be on my way."

Saying that, the avatar turned and left the castle, making its way out of the underground city and into the air.

Sp4de

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