Chapter 170 – Unworthy

Dream watched everything that happened from the live feed, and he was most pleased.

"Very good. These soda cans are rather capable. But we're not done yet. Launch the fusion bomb."

[Understood.]

With the order, the railgun alternated its hatches and inserted a bomb about the same size as the soda can. Once it was locked in, the railgun only had to charge a little bit before sending the payload. These bombs weren't kinetic based, so they didn't need atrocious speeds.

The reason why Dream decided to launch a bomb on top of the kinetic round was that many of the demons were still alive. Only the weaker demons class 2 and under were killed, and class 3's and up were able to survive it. 

So he sent in another bomb to wipe the floor.

[Launching.]

*Dsh*

The railgun launched the bomb, hardly creating any light or arcs of electricity. It seemed very ordinary and unimpressive compared to the kinetic round.

But the result was anything but unimpressive. As the payload used gravity to descend, it soon reached an altitude of only 13 km above the crater. It was moving much slower than the kinetic round, so much so that the class 3's and 4's within the crater could actually see the payload. It was quite unfortunate for them. 

[Detonate]

*Flash*

Seconds later, a miniature sun was quietly placed above the crater, filling it entirely with beautifully apocalyptic levels of sunshine. 

Even the armies 200km away could see the sun that had descended unto the planet. And after only several seconds, they could hear it too.

*BOOOOMMMM*

Shockwaves and rumbling on the levels of the kinetic round shook the area once again. Everyone stumbled around the ground, including the demons. But maybe because they had just felt an earthquake, they were able to handle it better.

So after everone stabilized themselves, they all looked towards the little sun again. What was there was no longer a sun though, but a towering mushroom cloud filled with fading fire.

"W-what is that?!"

"It's the sun... Someone summoned the sun!"

"Could it be... a higher being?!"

"A god! Only a god could call upon such destruction!"

"The gods have heard our pleas! They're smiting the demons from the heave- Ahh!!"

"Get back to fighting! Don't let the demons catch you off guard!"

The battlefield was shaken as everyone snapped out of their reverie. Many started to speculate, and some started to worship, but all had to get back to fighting for the demons had continued their charge.

Up in the air, the family was shaking their heads. 

"Who's a god? That's just Dream! He's no god!" (Iris)

"Such power is godlike though. He can wield that destruction by only thinking about it. To people who don't understand the technology, they would think that only a god could wield such power." (Luna)

"Godlike powers, or godlike knowledge... Dream could be said to have the latter." (Selene)

"But he's using it to gain godlike powers..." (Riddick)

"Hmm... Hey! He made those weapons himself! Doesn't that mean he got all that experience?" (Iris)

"..!"

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. When Dream had dropped that nuke before, he said he didn't get anything due to it not being bound by his mana. But since these weapons were made by him...

And indeed. As Dream sat up in his factory, he watched as all the notifications streamed down his vision.

"Ooohhh... Level ups!"

[Just relax~ Relax~~]

Sophia spoke in a soothing voice as Dream felt the changes in his soul.

He obviously leveled up a lot from killing all those demons, and right now, he could feel himself jumping in power. His perception slowed, he felt warm and fuzzy, and his influence expanded uncontrollably, shooting past the 2km mark.

After a few minutes, Dream's influence had reached over 5,000 meters. He could even sense the railgun platform only 4km away. Soon after that though, he adapted to the feeling and got himself under control, taking deep breaths.

"Huuhh... Huuhhh... Jeez. That was abrubt."

[They were all killed instantly, so your level ups were also instant.]

"Yea. Let me check my feed. I got to level 299 right?"

[You sure did. Take a look.]

<You killed a level 342 [Grand Demon]>

<You have gained Experience!>

<Congragulations! You have reached your Class Advancement!>

<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.>

"Class advancement. Very nice. But what's that?"

Dream looked at the number two option in the small list. Unlike the bright letters of the option above it, this one was dim and crossed out.

"Weird. Unworthy is an odd class name."

[Don't play dumb. This is something different. It says you're unworthy, so does that mean you can become worthy?]

"Maybe. Though this kind of reminds me of something. What was it.... Oh! My title! Bring up the description."

[Alright.]

[Origin Seeker]: Granted to the one who has given everything for the chance to attain enlightenment. They refuse to be left in the darkness that is ignorance and their path is the one to uncover the secrets of the universe.

Remark: The one who has blessed you with this Title wishes for you to one day escape the shackles that is the Record. The foundation to do so has been granted.

Perks:

"Ha! There it is! Number 4..."

[Gained upon approval. Could that be related to this class?]

"It's the only thing I could think of. Not the first time my little system has been messed with by whoever that mysterious dude is. Maybe it's some kind of special class."

[Something that could help you ascend. That would be cool.]

"All I need to do is become worthy. But how do I do that?"

[No clue. Get stronger?]

"That seems to be the ultimate goal of everything. Oh well. I'll just do my thing and hope it unlocks. Status!"

|Profile|

Name: Dream

Species: Maghdisynthetic Human Male

Class: [Exalted Arcanist]

Titles: [Origin Seeker]

Level: 299

Stats: Strength- S-      Agility- S-

Stamina- S-       Magic- S

Passive Skills: [Sophia] Lvl. 5, [Arcana] Lvl. 18, [Translate] Lvl. 27

Active Skills: [Summons From Another World], [Particle Manipulation] Lvl. 14

"Oooo! S stats baby! No wonder I jumped in power so much. I'm feeling good. Groovy even. Alexa, play some Bee Gees."

[Playing Despacito by Daddy Yan-]

"Nooo!!!"

..........

......

After checking out his stats and putting away matters of the class advancement, Dream continued to launch fusion bombs at demon armies and outposts around the continent for half an hour.

He picked strategic spots that contained the most demons and hit those. With this, he would be able to buy time for the Empires. Maybe if they acted quick enough, they could take advantage of the chaos in the demon armies and advance their troops.

In total, Dream launched 30 nukes on 30 different armies or outposts. The experience he gained after launching nearly 30 bombs was astronomical, but because he hadn't advanced, he couldn't level up any further. The experience just sat somewhere.

But he wouldn't advance until he saw the secret class. Even if it was to just satisfy his curiosity, he would wait until he was strong enough to unlock it. 

Other than launch nukes though, Dream spent the time getting used to his new power. And the first thing that he noticed was that the heart's power didn't overwhelm him anymore.

Over the three weeks that Dream spent building the railgun, his bodily systems and enchantments were steadily improving and becoming more able to take on the power of the heart. While it took longer than initially planned, at the end of the third week Dream could finally suppress the heart's power for long periods of time. However, it hadn't gotten to the point where he could control it without using energy. 

With this boost though, he could now control it perfectly. Plus, even if he didn't restrict the flow with his soul, his enchantments could do it themselves. It didn't take any effort whatsoever to control the heart's power now, and he was very happy about that. 

Other than that, Sophia made some observations about Dream's improvement. 

In terms of his magic, Dream's pool expanded once again by about double. Not only that, but the flux content of his liquid mana increased, resulting in a greater mana density than before. And as for his influence, he already knew that it had expanded to around 5km. 

Dream came to see his influence range as representative of his soul's overall power. Although he wasn't entirely sure that was the case, it was a good gauge. 

He also came to wonder why he got such a huge power boost from the level ups. Dream had already strengthened his soul more than a bit from using his skills. He figured that the levels wouldn't give him much since that was the case. But that assumption was apparently very wrong.

Levels inherently had the purpose to strengthen the soul, regardless of its state. Dream having a stronger soul would just mean that he got more of a boost when he leveled up. 

As a result, his already freakishly strong soul became even stronger.

After messing around with his new strength for a while, Dream noticed people boarding the factory. 

"Hey Dream!"

Iris shouted as she flew into the storage area in her fox form. After she ran over and settled on his shoulders, the other three came walking in as well.

"That was an impressive display you put on, Dream." (Selene)

"Yea, sorry about that. I'm sure it got a little shakey over there."

"A little? The blast shook the entire battlefield! And at the site, you created a crater at least 10 feet deep." (Iris)

"...I sure did."

"Hey, I'm not wrong. Hehehe..."

Iris chuckled at her own joke as Dream just shook his head. Luna spoke as she walked over to him.

"So how many times did you level up?"

"I got to my class advancement."

"...I see. So what did you pick?"

"Nothing yet. I'm gonna wait until I'm stronger, level my skills a bit."

"Ok."

"What about you guys?"

"We're close. Both of us are at level 292."

"What about skills?"

"I can't level mine! Ugh, it frustrates me!" (Iris)

Iris suddenly let out a growl after hearing the question.

"Can't level it?"

"Yea! No matter what I do, my Devour skill won't go past level 90!"

"Huh. Luna?"

"I'm doing fine. I only need 4 more levels."

"Very nice. Anyway, we should try doing some experiments, Scarlet. It shouldn't be too hard to get 10 more levels."

"But I've done everything! I've eaten metals, rocks, plants, mana, bones, brains, hearts, and blood. The amount of animals I've eaten is too much to even count. How could there be anything else?"

"Hmm, have you eaten souls?"

"Souls? Wait, souls! I've never eaten a soul before! That's it! Hahaha! Luna, let's go get an animal!"

"Hold your horses girl. Do you even know how to eat a soul?"

"Uhh... No, I do not. But it shouldn't be hard. Just attack it with my skill."

"But do you know how to find a soul?"

"...No."

"Then let's figure that out. Oh! Hey Selene, how far are you away from advancing?"

"Me? I still have a bit of a ways to go. I don't kill as fast as those two. In fact, I'm thinking we should go down and fight some more. What do you say, honey?"

"Mm. We can go. The army is still fighting. I'm sure they would appreciate our help."

"Alright. Then we'll be going, Dream. Take care of them."

"Always."

Saying bye, the two adults took a ship back down to the continent.

"Alright! You ready to find souls, Scarlet?"

"Sure. I wonder how they taste."

"They're probably pretty nourishing. That's where the essence of a person lies after all. So, do you know where the soul is located?"

"Uhh kind of? We can see it with our eyes, but it's hard to locate it inside the body."

"Oh yea huh. You guys have that insane eye power or something."

"It's called Ethereal Eyes."

"So it's a skill?"

"Yea."

"...Must be nice."

"What? You jealous?"

"Maybe a little. A skill like yours would be a very good one to combine with my own sensory skill. Anyway, you can see the soul, so you at least know it exists."

"Of course. It's weird though. The soul exists within the body, but doesn't actually take up a space within the body."

"That's cause it's located in the 4th dimension, something outside the 3rd. The only way to contact the soul is with a material that also exists in the 4th dimension."

"Like mana?"

"Yes. But you can't manifest that mana. You have to keep it in the 4th dimension and make contact that way."

"Hmm, I get it, but we should find a demon or something to test this on."

"I know. In fact, one of my Bobs should be here any second now... There he is."

"Screech!"

Out of nowhere, a scream could be heard echoing through the factory. A moment after, a metallic humanoid came walking in with a demon in its hands.

"What the..."

"I had one of my Bobs fetch a demon for us. Now, go ahead and do some tests."

"Ok."

After bringing the demon over, Dream restrained it and Iris put her hand on it. 

"Touch the soul with mana..."

"Sense it. Fill the space with mana and use the mana to detect the soul. Then send your influence through the mana and target the soul."

"Oookayy..."

Iris closed her eyes and concentrated. Dream observed with his senses, watching her mana slowly inch towards the soul. 

As she could somewhat comprehend the general location of the soul, it didn't take long before she made contact. Once she did, she did as Dream said and sent her influence across the bridge of mana, making direct contact with the demons soul.

"Oh! Haha! I did it! Is that it? That was kind of easy."

"Now you just gotta directly eat the soul. It probably won't work the same way as eating everything else. Oh, word of advice, there are certain parts of the soul that will activate a self-destruction mechanism if they're tampered with."

"What parts?"

"Uh, it's hard to explain. Basically there are three skills attached to every demon soul, and if you mess with those skills, the whole soul will collapse."

"How do I know what part of the soul is those skills?"

"Unless you have the ability to read the details of soul strings, you won't know. Just try eating parts of the soul first. I've got some animals on their way that won't have this problem."

"Alright."

Smiling, Iris disregarded being careful and directly activated her skill.

Turns out, Dream underestimated how amazing Iris's skill was.

"Hey! It leveled up!"

"...Well would you look at that. You're eating the soul..."

Dream watched intently with wide eyes as the demon's soul was disintegrated string by string. It started out slow, but eventually it picked up and the demon quickly had 20% of its soul eaten.

"Ahh... Souls are delicious! So much energy! It's quite the shame you guys can't eat this stuff."

"...Not really. I'm okay with just studying them."

"Hehe, more for me. This stuff... Wait. Wait! It's dying! Hey!"

"Oh, you must've hit one of the skills."

"No! My food!!"

As the soul suddenly started dissipating, Iris hastened her eating. But in the end, she was only able to get around 30% before the demon became nothing more than a husk. 

"....*sniff*."

"You are not crying."

"Shut up! You're crying! Where's the animals?! I'm hungry!"