Chapter 278 – Ascendency

"What the hell just happened?!"

As Dream and Tersa hung around outside the planet, there was a ship that suddenly sped toward them. Out came a panicking Melody. Behind her in the ship was their mother. 

"Hi mom!"

Dream waved like a child when he saw his mother, ignoring Melody's shock. She waved back, although a bit absentmindedly. 

Seeing Dream's mother, Tersa became a bit curious, looking at Shannon with wide eyes. At the same time, Melody poked at Dream. 

"What did you do?! Since when do you merge planets just because?!"

"I didn't do it just because. I did it because I want to take Earth along with me. Now you can see mom and dad whenever you want."

"That's true, but at least make some preparations first! You literally just tore the planet apart! People are going crazy! Besides, you left some people behind."

"Left people? Oh!"

Suddenly, Dream remembered something. 

Earth had advanced to create megastructures and navigate space. How could they have not colonized other planets like Mars? Looking through some data, Sophia found a few thousand people on Mars and Venus. 

"Well, guess I'll have to merge them too."

Saying that, Dream waved his hand again, power exploding out of him. A portal was instantly created once more, expanding to 10 thousand miles in size. Through it, one could see Mars.

As if grabbing the planet, Dream reached out and pulled, Mars drifting through the portal before sinking toward Tersa Prime. Once it was through, the image through the portal changed, showing Venus. Dream did the same thing to it, two more planets merging into Tersa. 

As they unfolded and merged, Dream closed the portal, Melody watching the show. The strips of those planets were placed around but not right next to Earth's portion. Truly, Tersa's planet was utterly massive. It could easily accommodate many dozens of planets Earth's size.

"Problem solved."

Dream smiled as if what he did was casual. His mother looked at him at the same time, complex thoughts going through her head. This display was that of a god, and it was her son doing all of this. 

Melody rolled her eyes at Dream. Then she pulled his arm. 

"Alright, you're coming with us."

"What for? I've gotta construct a new army with Tersa."

"You also need to spend time with the family! You didn't follow me down when we first arrived, and its been almost a month since then! Everyone wants to see you!"

"Alright, alright. I guess a little vacation couldn't hurt."

Dream just chuckled a bit before following Melody into the small ship. Tersa joined as well, introducing herself to Dream's mother. 

Like that, they landed back on Earth, specifically the paradise tree dome that had always remained since Dream brought it over. It had always been located off the coast of the North American continent, and it still was even with the planet merger. Dream ensured the oceans didn't disappear even with the cataclysmic changes. 

And the tree dome island was just about the only place on Earth that wasn't in chaos. While the landmasses weren't disturbed with Dream's skillful manipulation, and even the satellites were transferred over, the entire planet was still merged into a larger one. From any of the continents one could see mountains that pierced above the clouds, some even a few hundred miles tall. The red star also painted the sky a different color, the like of which had never been seen on Earth before. 

More than that though, there were now new lands to explore, and Dream had filled this wilderness with exotic animals and plants of all kinds. The planet had long formed its own ecosystems with Tersa's terraforming and artificial hand in the process. 

Thankfully, with the successive shocks that Earth had consecutively been introduced to from the appearance of mana to the opening of the heavenly gates, this sudden change wasn't the heralding of anarchy. If anything, it meant that there would be something of a gold rush as the denizens of Earth rushed to explore new lands. 

Even the 6 heavenly gates experienced change. They were stationed above the Earthen patch on Tersa Prime, all its travelers realizing that Earth was now something bigger. By this point, not even half of the Earthen population was native to Earth, most being of angelic descent or of other unique species. Still, Earth had basically become a new planet, and that meant new benefits to reap. Nobody wanted to lose out on the potential gains, angel or otherwise.

It wasn't even a day before there were millions of ships being dispatched across the new planet. Other ships were launched into space, but they quickly realized that entering the depths of space had now become close to impossible unless one was around a class 4. Thankfully Tersa was there to protect these curious cats from killing themselves. 

But the atmosphere still extended exceptionally far out, around 300 miles. This was enough for low orbit satellites to operate, so those were quickly put to work. Ships manned with cameras and scanners launched in order to image the entire planet. While the new planet's gravitational pull messed certain things up, it was quickly and easily adjusted for with the high level of technology. Also thanks to Tersa and Dream, the gravity wasn't much different from Earth anyway, sparing the ordinary peoples from potential death or deformity. 

Ultimately, Dream decided to spend a week with the family, enjoying some down time. Of course, he didn't actually waste away. The entire time, he was putting his infinite power to work, effectively re-enchanting the planet and all of his industrial plants under the surface. 

Within Tersa Prime, there were millions of factories that were constantly working to produce bots. Dream already had legions of almost a trillion ordinary bots, most of which weren't being used in any way and were merely acting as shells for future enchantment. With Dream's foundational schematics and Tersa's active enchanting power, these factories had been churning out powerful bots at the class 3, 4, and even 5 level for months. 

As of now, Dream had around 3 billion class 4 bots just sitting around. The class 5 bots numbered much less, only around half a million. It was difficult for Tersa to make that many. Despite her atrocious power reserves, she still didn't have infinite power. There were limits to her production abilities. 

Even then, 500 thousand class 5 bots armed with myriads of weapons and all functioning with a hive mind was an absurdly powerful force. Dream could steamroll the entire asura planet without lifting a finger, even wiping out the class 6's. Only the lone demigod Cavra could stop this force, and that was due to his infinite power. 

But now, this insane army was skyrocketing in power. While Dream laughed and spent days with his family, he was simultaneously scrapping almost every factory within the planet and rebuilding it. 

With his new conceptual knowledge, Dream was able to build production facilities incomprehensible to the normal human mind. With sparks of electricity and bursts of magical power, bots seemed to be built from thin air. This occurred throughout the entire plant after Dream spent a mere day revamping his industry. 

Now, Dream didn't so much as glance at class 3 bots. The bare minimum was class 4, and he was primarily concentrated on class 5's. Above that even, he personally formed the schematics for class 6 bots. 

These class 6 schematics were so advanced that Dream was incapable of making a factory for them that Tersa could power. This meant that she was restricted to powering class 5 factories. 

And because of that, there wasn't a need for Dream to build class 6 factories. Instead, he thought of something interesting. 

With a mere wave of the hand, Dream suddenly retrieved some material. Under the crust of Tersa Prime was magma. And below that was nanites all the way down until the Terra Core. Tersa watched as a chunk of these nanites about the size of Earth disappeared. 

All of these nanites appeared as a ball in Dream's inventory. Then, they formed into a metal cube. 

[Borg Cube 2.0.]

Dream smiled as Sophia engraved these words on the massive metal cube. 

Dream's inventory was no longer just a simple inventory. It was its own dimension, and Dream could work with things inside of it however he wished. Everything inside was under his absolute control. It was almost no different from the outside world. 

Like that, he formed his own personal factory. Here, he would produce class 6 bots. Naturally, these bots had to be extremely powerful. Technically, Dream could barely give them the destructive power of a weak class 6. Because he only had Dust and not Ash, his capacity for destructive and chaotic actions was limited. That meant his bots would be highly durable and would use attacks taking advantage of this durability. 

Even with Dream's infinite power, producing even one of these bots wasn't easy. It wasn't about the quantity of power as it was the quality. Dream had to condense his power greatly before enchanting the bots, a process that stressed his soul greatly. It was like compressing water coming out of a hose. If you sealed the hose with enough water pressure, the hose could burst under the stress. Well, Dream was using this logic to condense power for the bots. It came at a cost of damage to his soul. 

Of course, Dream could easily heal from any damage, and damaging his soul was exceptionally difficult in the first place. Still, enchanting class 6 bots was a tedious process that took time. After the week of vacation with his family, Dream had yet to finish a single one. 

He wasn't frustrated by this. Dream was just happy that he was capable of creating bots with class 6 power. Even one of these would be an invaluable weapon. After all, they were different from the cannons or pistols Dream used to kill class 6's. These bots could dish out far more damage and could also take many times more damage than they dished. If Dream took a completed class 6 bot to the battlefield where he harvested souls, a single bot could single-handedly kill every single one of those class 6's, though at the price of its life. Such a bot was Dream's standard of class 6 power. 

And Dream estimated a single bot to take 3 weeks of time to produce. After 6 months, the same time it took him to prepare before harvesting class 6 souls, Dream could come out with 8 class 6 bots. 6 months of his time now would give him power that could destroy his past self several times over. 

And Dream had plans even beyond class 6 bots. What if he bestowed them with Dust? What if he gave them some Divine Light, otherwise known as Experience? Dream knew basically everything there was to know about souls. Could he create his own souls capable of leveling up under the System? Would that be considered creating life?

Dream didn't know if it was truly creating life, but he did know that the potential power of one of such bots would triumph any weapon he had ever created. He got itchy thinking about it. Unfortunately, he didn't have spare Dust, not even some to give to Aegis who was the first candidate. He could have to harvest a few souls first. 

"Hang on."

At some point, Dream remembered something. Aegis' heart was that of a class 6. It had Dust in it, right? It was capable of generating its own Aether without tiring, so it had infinite power. 

"Aegis, come here."

Dream called. Not even a second later, Aegis walked out of the void before him, bowing at the waist. 

"You called, my lord."

"...You really do have your own source of Dust."

Dream was a bit surprised. He had to look closely, but he was able to make out a faint ball of Dust within Aegis' heart. It wasn't the same amount as a normal class 6 since it wasn't the soul, but it still had a good amount. 

Suddenly, Dream reached out his hand, reaching into Aegis' heart. From his finger extended a faint, intangible strand. It was his own Dust, and it stimulated the Dust within Aegis. After that, Aegis seemed to burst with power. 

Currently, Aegis only had the soul of a class 4, constructed of soul strings. But that wasn't enough to contain the true power of Dust. So without hesitation, Dream extracted some of his own Divine Light, building a Divine Sea and infusing it into the Heart. Aegis' soul was also infused into this Sea. 

Naturally, after such a shock to his soul, Aegis did what any normal person would do and went unconscious. It wasn't long though before he woke back up, and when he did, he seemed to be even more aware than before. Dream could sense a greater level of intelligence, and he could especially sense Aegis' Will. 

That was when Dream sensed something. Aegis' mind actually saw notifications appear within it. It was the System, and perhaps because Aegis had gained a true soul and true Experience, he was now a true being. 

Of course, Dream couldn't have him going under the normal System. Thinking, he activated his title, making contact with the Wanderer System. He then connected Aegis' soul to it, and things changed. 

<Alert! New individual detected.>

<Integrating under Wanderer System.>

<Integrated.>

<Welcome, Aegis.>

|Profile|

Name: Aegis

Species: [Synthetic Psyckhe]

Class: [Unassigned]

Level: 400

Title: [Butler of Sylus Dreamer], [Chief Guardian of the Dreamer Ascendancy]

Stats: Ethereal Pool- X          Mind- SS

Vitality- SSS                  Will- SS

Skills: [Void Armor], [Void Shuttling], [Spatial Severance], [Arcane Arts], [Minor Particle Manipulation], [Symbiosis]

After Aegis was accepted under the Wanderer System, Dream was able to see his profile. He nodded pleasantly.

"Well Aegis, it looks like you really are your own man now. A truly independent soul, an actual life."

"...My lord has bestowed this life upon me. It shall forever be devoted to you and your ascendancy."

Aegis kneeled on the ground. Dream just smiled before helping him up. 

This ascendancy was a fancy way of saying Dream's family. His family and any future children would be a part of Dream's ascendancy. Dream, along with his wives, were the heads of this ascendancy. 

Suddenly, when Aegis stood, Dream looked at his forehead curiously. A mark had placed itself there. The mark was engraved outwardly as well as in Aegis' soul. 

The mark was of a circular void. Within this black circle was a figure of a man whose body was made of light. And above his head were three stars, a star of red fire, a star of frigid ice, and a star of illusory fog. They all radiated their own profound auras, and the man who stood under them seemed to be bathed in their light. 

The image seemed alive too, more than any painting or picture. It was like you could reach into the void that man and those stars floated in. 

Suddenly, Dream heard a yell. 

"Ow! What the hell is this?! Dream!!"

"...Don't tell me."

Dream had a bad feeling as Melody came running over. The same mark had appeared on her forehead, and Dream felt an odd connection form between them. He could distinctly feel that she was a part of his family, or his ascendency. But that wasn't the problem. 

"It's creating the ascendency for me?"

"Why is my soul being marked?!"

"...I didn't do it on purpose."

"Doesn't answer my question!"

Melody growled at him as the mark finished. A marking on the soul wasn't painless by any means, but it at least didn't hurt her either. 

This was good since Dream quickly heard a few other yells through the house they were in. Everyone from his parents to his brothers was marked. They even got titles cementing their position in the ascendency. 

From this, Dream learned an important detail about this ascendancy. It was unlike anything such as a bloodline or a family dynasty. This was a familial connection rooted in the soul. It was a lineage that surpassed the flesh.