Origin Seeker

Chapter 228: Opening

After returning to his space cube, Dream focused all his power on the destabilizing fusion marble.

Everything he said about the marble at the meeting was the truth. This marble was a tiny fusion reactor that used two sets of chain fusion reactions to compound on each other. One would produce high energy gamma rays, and microcrystals would focus those rays into lasers that beamed toward the hydrogen in the center, thus causing more fusion and producing copious amounts of power. There was one thing that he underestimated though, and it was actually the power output of the marble. 

After he got back to work on it, he calculated the power and realized that this single orb produced power that could rival the entire power production of the world's largest countries. This was rather surprising, but he didn't get too excited over it. With the amount of fusion reactors he had built and had operating, he was producing more power than the entire planet multiplied a few times over. 

So when Dream also said that he could bring forward the next scientific revolution, he wasn't exaggerating. He could multiply the power output of the planet, and this would open up countless opportunities for the people of the world. That combined with the knowledge he was willing to give would put them in a new era, one that surpassed the recent magic era that had dawned only a few years ago. 

But until then, Luna had to figure things out on her end. 

The meeting quickly ended due to Dream's little stunt. However, it was only the public meeting that had ended. Everything that actually mattered would happen behind closed doors, and Luna was quick to join the president in private discussions. 

It was here that their cooperation began. With what was said during the public meeting, it was already clear that Luna's empire had earned the right of sovereignty. Thus, the two spoke as equals as they detailed what the relationship would be between their countries. 

Dream had already set up dozens of transportation systems that could bring people in and out of both the Haven and the Oasis landmass. However, the way he did things was rather special. One could only enter the Oasis through the Haven. The Haven acted as the gateway to the Oasis, and nobody could enter or exit the Oasis directly. Of course, this only applied to normal people, but that was the overwhelming majority. 

With the system of transportation already in place, Luna quickly moved on to other topics to talk about. The most conflicting one was the currencies of America and her empire. The Oasis had its own currency of credits, and America had its own dollar system. The two didn't really have to set values. That would be done by the market. They just had to make sure that they could be exchanged. Luckily, Dream had systems that were digital, and it could be seamlessly integrated with online markets. Luna only asked that the president refrain from overreacting when Dream's system revamped everything. 

It was at this point that Luna brought up the Seeker program, the program that Dream and Sophia had overtaken the world's electronics with. It was with this program that they would run the Oasis and its systems on since it was already entrenched. Naturally, it shocked the president to hear that Dream had also been the brains behind the program. That very program had been one of the huge changes that wasn't much less significant than the angels that appeared. The program had been the biggest driver of magic adaptation, and it was incredibly notorious to all the governments and agencies around the world. The amount of plans it had foiled before they could even be carried out couldn't be counted. 

The two leaders talked about different details for several hours. It was only when the sun set that Luna was invited to America to continue their talks. After accepting, she made her way out, and the president was allowed time to digest everything that had happened. 

First there was Dream and his stunt, then his 'enlightenment', and now he was negotiating cooperation deals with Luna. Everything seemed surreal. However, there's one thing that was brought to his attention. Melody and her relationship with Dream.

Nobody knew who Dream really was since he had been up in space all this time. But now, at this meeting, it could be said that Melody revealed some shocking information of her own. Not only did she wave to him, but she called him by name. She was familiar with him, and now, the president needed to figure out how. This would be a very significant investigation. 

............

.......

Time passed with Dream constantly working on top of his factory. 

After two months, Luna had finalized a kind of treaty with the president, and it was being put into effect. This was obviously made public, and the two had appeared on live television to broadcast everything. 

This came with a piece of news that sent tremors through the masses. The Oasis was being officially opened to the public. This meant that the people of this new country would be engaging in trade, communication, and more with the outside world. 

Naturally, Luna was thorough in preparing her country for this. The people of the Oasis had been taught over the last year the customs and languages of Earth and its peoples. While it wasn't an in depth education, it was enough to streamline the communication between these two foreign populations. Especially for those that cared. Anybody who wanted to do business with the people of this new world had to learn how things worked, and they eagerly absorbed the information they could. 

The people of the Oasis had been guarded and solitary for a long time. Everything they knew was destroyed. Their empires, their cultures, their friends and families. All of it was almost entirely wiped out with the attacks of the demons. They had experienced unbearable sorrow before eventually leaving their home world and everything they knew behind.

But now, a year after the great migration, they were finally being opened up to this new world. Although there was nothing but humans, that didn't faze them. This population of refugees was eager to integrate themselves with another prosperous world. They had been preparing for this very moment when the gates were opened. 

Luna was also eager to open the gates, but she also understood that her people were naive to the ways of Earth. She did her best to educate them using Dream's technology, but she didn't think for a second that things would transition smoothly. Thus, she imposed a limitation. The people of Earth could enter the Oasis, but the people of the Oasis could not leave. They were to stay within the bounds of the Haven city or the Oasis landmass. This rule would be imposed until Luna saw fit to remove it. 

Luna didn't want to see her people enslaved, studied, or experimented on by the people of Earth. This wasn't her being prejudiced, but realistic. Until her people learned how to navigate these foreign humans and not get taken advantage of, they would stay sheltered under her watch. 

Now, one might argue that Luna's people were more than capable of holding their own. It wasn't like they hadn't developed their own systems of business, communication, and culture. However, Luna knew that if it were in terms of social society, academia, and pure street smarts, Earth was far ahead of her people.

Earth had developed for thousands of years without magic. This meant that its people had to develop themselves using only their brain and smarts. Her people, on the other hand, had magic as a crutch. They didn't need to stress their minds as they could solve most problems with their magical brawn. This, in turn, stunted their academic development over time. Being smart wasn't so much of a necessity, and they could get by with a lot less. 

They wouldn't be able to immediately handle Earth's people that had developed civilizations and impossibly complex technology on the backs of many wise and smart persons. Lies, deceit, and trickery were commonplace. And now, they had magic to boot. Earth was already integrating magic into their technology, like tigers given wings. Long story short, in terms of academics and sheer brainpower, Luna's people fell behind, and she knew that they would need to learn how to catch up. 

Once they proved themselves, then she would release them into the wild. What happened after that was up to them to handle. She knew that many would be killed and many would be taken advantage of, but that was part of life. As long as her people didn't go extinct, she wouldn't intervene.

With that, the opening of the Oasis and Haven city commenced. The day of the opening was announced, and there were almost a billion people who were asking for admittance. However, Luna only approved ten thousand to enter, after which she would control the influx so as to not shock her city and introduce chaos. 

The ten thousand people were grouped up outside of the 5 Haven cities. On the day to enter, the gates opened, and they were let into the central city of the Haven. Luna tasked Dream's bots to hand out bracelets, and these bracelets gave the people all the information they needed to know. She also tasked a few thousand of her own people to go and greet these foreigners, attempting to maintain order and ease them in. 

For the most part, things went well. The ten thousand people entered in from different parts of the city and were allowed to wander or stay with their tour guides. Many went on to wander, and obviously, they videotaped everything they saw. Billions watched all the videos and live streams that were quickly released, and it brought wonder to all their faces. 

They saw all the new races. Elves, dwarves, beastkin, and humans. The two populations from two different worlds saw each other face to face for the first time, and the humans of Earth were quick to engage in conversation. 

Although the people of the Haven had been educated and taught a few languages, their speech wasn't perfect. For this, Dream naturally had a solution. The bracelets were programmed with translation software that could perfectly interpret and get across meanings. Like this, conversation was made smooth, and the two sides could communicate perfectly. 

Luna watched as thousands of Earthlings interacted with her people. She thought about how surreal it was. Peoples from two different planets coming together and exchanging information. Such a thing would usually be impossible, unthinkable. But it was happening right before her eyes. 

It was the bridging of two worlds. The humans of earth inquired about all the different races and asked hundreds of questions. They got to know a dwarf or an elf, and most were quick to make friends. Luna's people, having expected this, didn't shy away from interacting with them. They went on to show them around the Haven, describing their way of life. 

Weapon shops, restaurants, blacksmiths, academies, fighting arenas, hotels, and more. The people of the Haven were delighted by the curiosity of Earth's humans, eagerly showing them around and answering any questions. Of course, they also had questions of their own, like what the outside world was like. 

However, only most of the interactions were good. Naturally, there were troublemakers, people who tried to steal a cool weapon they saw or grabbed the tail of a beastkin, but Dream's bots were quick to take action. Not only that, but the people of the Haven had high average power levels. They weren't so easily messed with.

Luckily, there were only a few troublemakers. There weren't many who were stupid enough to get into trouble in a foreign place. So after those few were apprehended, the rest went on smoothly. 

Luna wasn't the only one watching either. The reason she had set a date for the opening of the Haven was so Dream could plan his schedule accordingly. Now, he was down there with her, watching everything unfold. The two stood high in the sky, shoulder to shoulder.

"Isn't it amazing? After over a year, we're finally opening it up. Every single person down there has had an entire complex life of their own, and they're sharing the wealth of their experiences with each other. One from a ruined world, and one from a manaless one. Two infinitely different perspectives come together, the other finally seeing that they aren't alone in this vast universe."

Luna spoke with wonder as she observed all the thousands of people below. Dream nodded.

"Indeed. Earth's logic has been flipped on its head with the introduction of mystical concepts. Now, the population of a doomed world has come to settle here in refuge. I'm amazed that such a thing could even happen."

"All because of you."

"No, all because of the god behind me."

Dream shook his head as he thought of Corvatsch who opened the portal that bridged across galaxies. He allowed Dream to move everyone from one world to another. While Dream did indeed develop the billions of bots and the massive infrastructure needed to move 300 million, nothing would have happened without Corvatsch. Dream still couldn't even imagine how he could have gotten back to Earth from there. As he is now, even with his new control over aether, he would find it impossible. 

Dream had been prepared to rebuild the doomed world and attempt to gain more power afterward in the hope to progress somewhere. That was why the psuedo class 5 demon he killed was so important. It had been his only lead toward a path of higher power. Now though, not only did he come back to Earth, but he came in contact with an angel who gave him a direct path to the wider universe. The god behind him also gave him a direction to work toward. With that, he knew where to build to. It was a much better situation than he could have hoped for on the doomed world, but this in turn brought him back to his existential conflict with that god. 

Luna knew very well the kind of conflict Dream had, so she understood what he meant by his response. Nevertheless, she maintained that it was his ability that brought them here today. He had surpassed many difficulties and used the bodies of literal billions to make this possible. She lamented at how little her people knew of Dream's assistance, even more so that he didn't desire glory for it. While many of the people knew Dream's name, and the class 4's knew that their survival was Dream's doing, it was Luna that ended up on the receiving end of praise since she had become the queen. The masses looked to the one they could see, and Dream was currently invisible to them. At the very least, if he did receive praise, it wasn't on the level that she received it.

Luna linked arms as Dream began to brood, interlocking their fingers and resting her head on his shoulder. After a while, she turned her head towards his.

"So what have you been thinking about recently? I know you're always trying to analyze different concepts while being a hermit on your borg cube."

"...There's two things I'm having trouble with. The first is quantum mechanics. The second is infinity."

"Infinity? Like, the concept?"

"Yes. A number plus one."

"What's so confusing about it?"

"Hmm, I guess it's not so much confusing as it is hard to grasp."

Dream scratched his chin in thought. 

"First, you have to understand that there is no such thing as infinity in our world. And by that, I mean the 3rd dimension. Everything in our material dimension is finite. It can always be measured. But when you move up a dimension to the 4th dimension, the rules change. There's no such thing as the laws of thermodynamics, physics don't apply, and you come to touch upon concepts like infinity that can't exist in the 3rd. What does it mean for something to be infinite? You literally can't describe it using numbers or symbols. Infinity exists beyond the material, so anything material cannot comprehend or even describe it. That's, like, the rule of dimensions. But actually, I think I know an example of something infinite."

"What?"

"Our souls."

Dream smiled.

"Our souls are always capable of regaining energy. Unless a soul is destroyed beyond repair, it can always come back, or at least survive. This means that there is something beyond the soul that supplies it with energy. We get it from somewhere, and this source is never interrupted. It makes me think that there's something of infinite value that keeps our souls alive and functioning. Now, the only fallacy in that argument is aging, but I'm not sure if that's simply due to the material of the body and soul wearing out over time."

"Interesting. I guess I would be more interested in the nature of the soul though."

"Really? Well, I'm not exactly a master, but I know plenty. What are your questions?"

"What is sapience? And what distinguishes a bug on the ground from a conscious person?"

"...That's a deep question. Hmm..."

Luna asked, and Dream fell into contemplation. It wasn't like he hadn't thought of this question before. He organized his thoughts. 

"...Sapience...I would say it's a higher dimensional form of awareness. Sapience is the embodiment of wisdom, and wisdom, I would say, is the ability to see through time and form conscious decisions. This is what distinguishes us from common animals or bugs. Animals are purely material, without a soul. And material beings cannot see through time. They only live in the immediate present and have simple pattern recognition."

"What do you mean, see through time?"

"Time is a concept that is beyond the 3rd dimension. For simplicity's sake, let's say that the 4th dimension holds dominion over time. Because we have souls that reside in that same 4th dimension, we are capable of seeing and experiencing the passage of time. Now, because we can experience the passage of time, we can also make decisions based on the past, present, and our prediction of the future. We can only do this because we know what the concept of 'future' is. Animals don't understand this concept since they have no soul in the 4th dimension, so they live their lives in the present, and their 'decisions' are merely a cascading and predictable series of reactions to their immediate surroundings."

"..."

"If you want to clearly understand the relationship between our material 3rd dimension and time, a good way to do so would also be to stop thinking in terms of past, present, and future. In the 3rd dimension, there is no such thing as past and future, only present. And all the changes you see are merely changes in the state of a giant closed bubble that is our universe. Every second, Time generates a whole new universe. Every second, the deer that's prancing through the forest generates an entirely new brain, an entirely new body, and its subsequent actions will merely be what physics dictates for it in that instant. In the river of time, there are infinite copies of our universe that cover every instant. This is another example of infinity, though I'm not sure if the 4th dimension holds dominion over infinity like it does time."

"...I see."

Luna nodded as she processed Dream's words. As he spoke, he used universal language that handed Luna more than just words. He passed to her some of his own feelings and perceptions that might help her truly comprehend what these concepts embodied. And in her own mind, Luna was forming her own unique understanding of things like wisdom, time, and infinity. 

After thinking things through, she eventually turned back to him.

"So... why were you wondering about infinity?"

"Because it's interesting."

"That knowledge isn't going to be used in any projects?"

"Not right now. The more applicable questions come from quantum mechanics and objective reality. I'm starting to poke holes in the fabric of reality in order to make sense of the existence of really small particles. Oh, I also figured out that absolute zero can in fact be reached. Only, I'm pretty sure particles stop existing when they reach that temperature. Or maybe they're no longer perceivable? It's something that has to do with the absolute lack of movement and how that affects the particle's existence across space and time. I'm also 96% certain that there is an objective reality. I'm still in the process of establishing my own rules for that set of physics though."

"Right. Is there anything I can help with on that end?"

"Hm, I'm not sure. The only thing I could think of is the absolute zero experiment, but I'm still trying to learn how to magnify space to make it easier."

Dream scratched his cheek. Luna tilted her head at him hearing the last part of his sentence. Seeing her obviously confusion, he explained. 

"Aether. With aether I can stretch space. I'm almost to the point where I can magnify atoms by basically zooming in on space. It's difficult though since I'm still trying to learn how to interact with the fabric of space. For that I'm considering building a bridge between dimensions and seeing if that helps me, but even that takes copious amounts of energy and practice. I'm also trying not to accidentally create anything like a black hole. Almost got sucked in last time."

"W-wait, you made a black hole?"

"Yes and no. Black holes poke holes in the fabric of space, and that's what I'm trying to do, only without gravity. Poking a hole has its consequences though, one of which is getting ported off into some kind of chaotic void that warps space into it. If you take a close look at my workspace, there are still shards of space floating around. There's a huge hole too. I lost a lot of material that day, and I don't think I'll ever be able to recover it. Truly unfortunate."

"Wha... You know what, just please be careful."

"Don't worry, I could avoid getting sucked in once. I can do it again."

"No, not you. I don't need the damn planet getting torn to shreds cause you decided to make an artificial black hole. If you're doing risky experiments like that, then go to mars or something. I couldn't care less if that planet suddenly disappears."

"..."

Hearing her, Dream couldn't help but go silent. Then, he laughed, hugging Luna tighter as the two went back to watching the people in the city below.