Chapter 230 – Space Elevators

Since he knew he was safe, Dream took a dive back into the lower dimension. When Sophia realized that nothing would happen, she sighed in relief, only then to feel a surge of anger.

[Hey! Do you not care about me at all?!]

She yelled, causing Dream to chuckle.

"Hehe, sorry. Look at this though! I think I found the more fundamental particles! Looks like string theory was basically correct."

[...Whatever.]

Inwardly rolling her eyes at him, Sophia took a look. 

Since he could sort through infinite information, Dream was able to take a look at individual planes. On each plane were countless strings strewn out in various places. And as he simultaneously observed the matter around him in the third dimension, he was able to associate each string with a particle of matter. Each string poked into the dimension above it, creating the dots Dream saw within the quarks. 

Not only that, but Dream could see something else. 

"Photons! I can see photons! And gravity!"

He gleefully shouted as he viewed some strings that flew past him at the speed of light. These were definitely photons, and it was the first time that Dream could view the actual photon itself. 

Plus, there was gravity. And what he saw surprised him. Strings that existed across multiple planes at once. All the other strings were only laid flat against the plane they were on. To travel, they would simply jump from one plane to another. But with these gravitational strings, they existed across many planes simultaneously. Depending on the strength of the gravity, they would bend across more and more planes. When looking at the rock Dream was laying on, he could see large bends that compounded off each other to make gravity. He could see the bending of these strings when looking at the sun too. Obviously, these bends were many times deeper due to how massive the sun was. 

Seeing this, Dream was enlightened as he quickly started to form new theories. These were the most basic forms of these particles and forces, and if he could understand them, then he could go on to create even more extreme machines and devices. 

"Anti-gravity engines, not that those would be very strong. I could manipulate the strong and weak forces. Maybe I could manipulate light, which would let me control the electromagnetic force. Controlling energy in its most fundamental form, and making machines that can do so too! Sophia, we have lots of work to do!"

Jumping up from his seat, Dream exploded with power as he dove into a frenzy of analysis. For the first time, he was realizing the highest extremes of physics, and learning how to bend them to his will.

...........

.......

...

Another year passes...

This is the third year since Dream had returned to Earth. During this past year, many changes had taken place. 

The overall power level of the planet continued to rise. With Dream's demon confinement, all Supers were able to hunt demons with relative safety and ease. With this, the first earthlings started to become class 4's, and even more rose to become class 3's and 2's. 

As the one with the greatest backing and support, Melody, Dream's sister, was the first to become a class 4. Her specialty was the sword, and her focus was pure combat. While she couldn't even compete with either Dream or his women, she was still very powerful for her level. Luna was quick to introduce her to some of the other class 4's, specifically the one who had been the headmaster of the Sword School on the other world. Only he could challenge Melody when it came to the sword, and the two became eager to fight each other. 

But surprisingly, Melody was quick to surpass the headmaster in power and skill. This was because of one crucial detail. Melody had formed an image, or a spiritual body. 

All of the class 4's from Luna's empire were without spiritual bodies. It was only Dream, Luna, Iris, and Alice who had formed spiritual bodies. This was due to their special circumstances, such as Luna and Iris' blessings, Alice's training by an extremely powerful being, and Dream's legacy space. But now, since Dream understood fully the process of creating a spiritual body, he was able to facilitate Melody's own creation of one. 

Thus, using a bit of aether for her body and golden script that streamlined her enlightenment, Melody advanced smoothly with her own image. Her previously human body threw away its material shackles, though one wouldn't notice this at first glance. The biggest change was a third eye appearing on her forehead, one that was invisible unless opened. Other than that, her body became more perfect and adjusted to facilitate her usage of the sword. 

From the outside, she simply became more beautiful. But Dream knew exactly how different she was. Now, physical harm could almost be neglected if it were from anyone other than Dream, and her mana could be utilized with the ease of breathing. Her power output and mana pool was simply on another level from before, and all of it was directed toward pure combat ability.

This was further enhanced upon opening her new third eye. The eye was one that saw through dimensions, allowing her to peer at the soul of another and direct her energy toward it. With this, unless one could guard their soul, they were powerless against her. 

However, there was one thing that caused Dream to frown. Her species. Dream had gone through a few different species as his body changed, and this advancement had changed Melody's as well. But during the advancement, Melody could feel an almost irresistible urging toward forming herself a certain way. Dream came to the conclusion that it was her Title interfering, something he didn't particularly enjoy. 

But whenever those Titles interfered, it at least brought about good results. Melody eventually had her species reclassified, and she was now a Female Asura. Dream wasn't exactly sure what an asura was, at least in terms of a species, but it came with benefits to Melody such as the ability to handle extreme battles. Though, he also noticed some emotional changes. She became more aggressive, battle hungry, and overall more emotional. It's like someone took her personality and cranked it up several levels.

Her advancement wasn't nearly as exaggerated and didn't produce the insane results that Dream's did. But for her who didn't travel down the road he did, it was impressive. Dream didn't doubt that, given the right environment, she could smoothly advance to class 5. However, he knew that giving her the right environment was a responsibility that fell on his shoulders. It was the same for everyone else too. It was up to Dream to guide the development of not only the people around him, but the world. 

But for a while, it seemed as if Dream was neglecting everyone. For a year, other than Melody's advancement, he was shut away in the depths of space. There was no academy that was opened, no family Mars trip, nothing. It was like he just disappeared, only occasionally showing himself after major experiments.

At the very least though, the girls knew that what Dream was doing was worth the time. Dream had come to explain the responsibility on his shoulders to the three, and everything he was doing was to work toward the goal of understanding the portal and opening a gate to the inner universe. And because they knew, it was up to them to console Dream's family who wondered why he was always gone. 

One day though, Dream contacted Luna. He sent a single message.

"I'm gonna build a few space elevators and a few space habitats. Tell me where you want them."

Seeing this message, Luna gawked a bit. It was the most out of the blue thing she could hear, but after processing it in her head, she became a little excited. Looking at a globe, she was quick to pick out some good spots for such a building. She was also planning out what to do with them, such as conducting scientific research and building tourism spots. 

It would be immensely popular, and with Dream's tech, exceptionally cheap. She was worried about not being able to handle the number of people that would want to use these things. But she knew that if she spoke with Dream about the details, she could have him fix that problem. It would just take building really big space habitats. 

With that, she chose the places. The first space elevator would be on the Oasis landmass. Then, she planned on stationing others in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. With that, there would be a space elevator that covered essentially all of the world's population. Naturally she would control them all, but she wasn't one to monopolize things so they would be open as can be. 

She quickly sent Dream back a message telling him her plans. Meanwhile, right next to Jupiter, Dream was hovering around with several dimensional tunnels around him. He looked at the message that got back to him quickly and smiled. 

"That was fast. Well, I guess I can get going. Ready you two?"

Using his connection, Dream spoke. Suddenly, an explosion bloomed from the surface of one of the moons around Jupiter. Iris quickly appeared next to him.

"Ready for what? We're going home?"

She spoke as she hovered in the void. Since she had nobody to fight and nothing to do, she had eventually asked to go and travel with Dream. Seeing massive planets and cool moons was definitely more interesting than the planet Earth that she had already explored several times over.

"Yea. At least, I am."

"I'll go too. I want you to sling me there though."

"Alright."

Dream nodded, raising his hand and grabbing at Iris. She was enveloped by copious amounts of aether, and her body suddenly shot off.

She quickly circled Jupiter, rapidly gaining speed. After a few revolutions, she was suddenly shot off back toward Earth. Dream had slingshotted her. For some reason, she enjoyed it, so she asked him to do it sometimes. 

The next moment, a figure appeared next to Dream. It was Alice, and she watched as Iris became smaller and smaller in the distance. 

"...She just wants to go to the asteroid belt again, huh?"

"Probably."

Dream nodded with a smile. Upon going to the asteroid belt for the first time, Iris had a ball as she smashed rocks together, wreaking havoc. She had even sent one giant rock toward Earth, which Luna had to go and stop. This resulted in another scolding, as if it had hit, it would likely have obliterated the planet. From then on, Iris made an effort to only throw rocks at uninhabited planets. She enjoyed watching them explode on Mars in particular. 

And that was probably what she wanted to do, which is why she had Dream slingshot her. He didn't care though. It would take her a long time to reach Earth at her speed, but she didn't have anything better to do so she didn't mind. If she did, then she would just call Dream to get her.

Shutting down the dimensional tunnels, Dream turned toward Alice.

"Shall we?"

"We shall."

He put his cosmic arm out. Alice smiled and took it before the two suddenly disappeared. 

..........

A couple days later, Dream reappeared outside of Earth. Though, his appearance came with a ruckus. 

"How does something just simply not exist within the dimensions of reality? Are you even understanding the definition of existence?"

"I do! Look, that chaotic void that you've opened is something beyond dimensions, which means it's outside of dimensional reality!"

"Not necessarily!"

Dream rebuked Alice as the two argued. Suddenly, he used aether to tear a shallow hole in space, exposing the chaotic void. Because he reinforced the space around it though, it didn't suck anything in like a black hole.

"That void right there is a part of reality, otherwise we, who are also parts of reality, wouldn't be able to perceive it!"

"Yes, but it's not part of a dimension. It's something outside of dimensions. You could say that it's the most primordial form of the universe. From any dimension, you can get directly to the chaotic void. Your dimensional tunneling? Even that moves separately from the chaotic void, otherwise dimensional tunneling wouldn't be so easy for you! So yes, the void is outside of dimensional reality!"

"So what's the point of calling dimensions dimensional reality?"

"Because it's two types of reality. Laws break down in the chaotic void. Not even you could enter that void for long and expect to come out alive. That can only be done by a class 6, and the reason is because of their advancement. And even class 6's have trouble traversing it. It's unlike dimensional reality that actually has any form and structure. There isn't even anything such as space! How can you call that reality?"

"Because it's perceivable!"

"What the hell are you two arguing about?"

Suddenly, a figure appeared beside the two, interrupting their debate. Dream and Alice looked over to see Luna looking at them weirdly.

Alice sighed.

"Nothing. We're just arguing technicalities."

"Technicalities are important."

"Shut up."

*Bang!*

Alice shot out a fist at Dream who couldn't go without the last word. Dream threw up his own hand though, and the fist was stopped, releasing spatial shockwaves. 

Luna pinched her nose, her patience being sapped at. Before the two could continue, she turned to Dream. 

"Hey, are you going to build me my space elevators?"

"Obviously. I've been planning on it for over a year."

"A year?! Why couldn't you do it earlier?"

"Because I didn't have the awesome nanites that I do now. Ever since I started understanding the fundamental forces, I've been able to make machines that use those forces. The best one is the strong force, and I've basically become capable of true alchemy, only my alchemy is better. It's also not alchemy, but atomic reconstruction."

"And that means?"

"I can create any element I want and build things really fast. I've already harvested tons of helium and hydrogen as fuel from the sun, so I can get started whenever."

"Wait, from the sun?"

Luna stopped him, a bit confused.

"Yea. Since I can reconstruct protons and neutrons, I can make anything I want from anything I have. I can turn multiple helium atoms into something like oxygen, or with more I can make iron. And since the sun has all the material I could ever want I just pulled some from there."

"...How do you just pull material from the sun?"

"Simple. You just scoop some up with your hand and carry it off. Anyway, I'll get to work now."

With that, Dream disappeared. Luna was left slightly stunned before she turned to Alice.

"Don't look at me. He only took me to one of Jupiter's moons. I didn't see any of this sun scooping business."

"Sheesh. I don't know why I even... Wait, what's that?"

In the corner of her eye, Luna suddenly spotted something. It was one of Dream's orbital railguns, and it was lighting up like a Christmas tree. 

"...Dream! What are you doing?!"

Luna yelled, transmitting her voice over her connection. The next second, Dream appeared next to her.

"Will you calm down? I'm working."

"Shut up! What is this?"

Luna pointed at the glowing railgun. Dream shrugged. 

"I'm building the space elevator."

"It looks like you're about to crack open the planet!"

"Emphasis on the 'looks like'. As if I would just kill millions of innocent people. I already had my fair share of that a few years ago. Just sit back and watch. Your hubby's got this."

Dream patted Luna on the head before disappearing again. Meanwhile, the railgun was fully charged, and it quickly fired. 

Surprisingly though, it didn't simply hurl out a rod of metal. The black metal rod that flew out of it left a string of particles behind, maintaining a connection to the railgun. As the rod sailed down toward the planet, it continued to leave behind this string, like an arrow with rope behind it. 

This continued down to the surface. When the rod finally reached the ground, only a little bit of metal was left. It was like a needle as it pierced into the dirt. With that, there was now a tall string connecting space and the planet. 

"Send it."

[Sending.]

Dream then spoke, and Sophia sent a signal. A beam suddenly shot out of the borg cube and landed on the railgun. A giant clump of metal splattered all over its surface like a liquid before flowing down toward the metal string. Upon reaching it, the liquid metal wrapped around the string and formed a small anchor at the top. The railgun was then detached. 

As the railgun started its movement to the next location, more beams constantly shot out of the borg cube. Every beam was fire from a railgun on the cube and contained huge amounts of that liquid metal that flowed down the string to thicken it. Structures were formed by the atom to create the elevator as more material was made available. In front of Luna's very eyes, she could see the elevator take shape by the second. Amazingly enough, she felt no mana from the material whatsoever. It was purely mechanical. 

It wasn't long before the railgun was stationed over another location. It proceeded to repeat the process of launching the rod and leaving behind a string of metal. The second railgun was also put to work, and Dream soon had the beginnings of three space elevators. 

And only several minutes later, all the elevator positions were established. From Dream's borg cube, beams were constantly firing out in all directions. Liquid metal continued to pile onto the strings and form the space anchors before building down. 

Not only that, but Luna saw hundreds of ships appear like a space armada behind her. All of these ships opened their hatches to release massive amounts of this metal that flooded like a black tidal wave toward the elevators. This was only the first wave, too. More ships consistently appeared while empty ones returned to ferry more material. 

It was construction on a planetary scale. Luna's expression was wondrous as she watched mechanical wonders be built before her very eyes. Alice was the same, if not more so enraptured. She had experienced less of Dream's insane projects, so this display amazed her. 

It was only an hour later that the shaft of the first elevator was almost fully formed. It was about 300 meters in diameter, and there was a massive foundational anchor that secured the elevator to the surface of the planet. In the places that Luna had chosen, there were already hundreds of people flocking around the elevator. It had already made headlines as well. 

This fact was quickly brought to Luna's attention, so she returned to the planet to address her people and the world. This was her idea, and the whole project was monumental. Once she announced what was going on, people would go ballistic. 

Dream didn't pay much attention to that though. He focused on the construction of the elevators, including the habitats that were beginning to be built at the top of the elevator. These habitats needed to be able to accommodate the most ordinary of people, not that this was a problem. In fact, this was good practice for Dream and his new nanites. 

Dream needed things like plastic, glass, cloth, wood, rock, and many other kinds of materials besides metal to make the habitats hospitable. People needed to live in these places, so anything that a house would have, he needed. However, he would be getting these materials purely by synthesizing them himself. 

Dream stepped into the recently formed outline of a habitat. Picking up a glob of the flowing liquid metal, he directly controlled it to create cloth. 

The black liquid arranged its atoms, heating up slightly and changing color. All of the liquid metal had its own way of processing information. It could be thought of as one giant hivemind.

This hivemind proceeded to cluster protons and neutrons together. Hydrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen atoms were formed individually and then brought together as molecules to form various polymers and proteins. These molecules were then brought together in complex shapes and arrangements, forming fibers that got wider and longer. 

Soon, Dream had a patch of cloth in his hand. This cloth didn't look like normal cloth that was processed using a loom. No, each fiber, down to the atom, was perfect. It looked so perfect that one might think it was fake. But this was actually cloth, and it was constructed by the atom. 

Dream smiled before dropping the cloth. The cloth went on to meld back into the liquid flowing around him, returning to its most basic particles and moving to construct a higher priority object. Dream's nanites were perfect, functioning exactly how he wanted them to. 

This was the fruit of his labor after touching upon the lower dimension and studying the fundamental strings. Using unfathomably complex arrangements of energy and matter, he was able to bring computational intelligence to the tiniest particles. The result was this liquid of nanites that could rearrange into any element to form literally anything he could ask for. So long as there was material, there was nothing he couldn't build. 

But even then, Dream wasn't totally satisfied. He had ideas that involved being able to rearrange quarks to build the protons and neutrons of an atom. He was even thinking of controlling the little dots that made up the quarks to create the quarks. He imagined going smaller and smaller, but that much was impossible for him right now. This was about the limit of his physical constructive abilities. 

But it was enough. For now at least. Dream went on to watch and help out in the building of the elevators and the habitats. Alice stuck by him as well, watching everything develop. 

Like that, three days passed. It was at this time that all the elevators and even habitats were finally completed. With their advent, the world was sent into a frenzy.