Origin Seeker

Chapter 101: Embark

As Dream heard her talking about this new knowledge, he honestly felt a bit stupid. 

"...Why didn't I let you look at this earlier..."

[Because you wanted to take things slow. It wasn't the best decision, but at least you know now not to do things like that again. Hehe.]

Sophia chuckled a bit at his regretful face. He just sighed.

"I did indeed learn my lesson. Not that I can do anything about it now."

He shrugged it off and told himself not to do that again. 

Since he had two more days, Dream went back to the Spire. When he was on his way back though, he got a call from Riddick.

"Hello."

"Boy. I have two things."

"Shoot."

"One, I could use your help moving my things."

"Alright. I can build you a portable workshop or something."

"Thanks. Two. They want to meet you."

"Who?"

"The higher-ups. We have a meeting today about the expedition. I've told them about you and there are several people who are interested."

"Wait, why did you tell them about me?"

"Because you not only gave the intel but are now trying to transport a class 4. I can't exactly take credit for all of that and I had to drop your name. So now they want a face. This includes the class 4 you'll be transporting. But don't be too worried, she's one of the nice ones."

"...Fantastic."

"Indeed. So you need to be here in an hour. I'll be waiting in front of the biggest Spire for you."

"An hour?! *sigh* Fine. I'll be there in 20."

"Good. Dress nice. And you don't need to conceal your mana. In fact, you shouldn't. It's not exactly proper."

"Ok. Anything else?"

"I have your alchemy books. There's about 20 and I can't take them, so you'll need to scan them or whatever before I put them back."

"Sure."

"Then I'll be going."

With that, he hung up. 

"I can't believe he's bringing me to a meeting."

[Your intelligence was passed between all the Empires. I'm sure them hearing that it didn't come from one of their trusted class 3's but some random kid wasn't the best news for them. It'll be fine though.]

"Probably. It'll be interesting trying to handle these people. I wonder how I match up to a class 3. The Old Man said I was as powerful as one."

[Hard to tell. Just don't go punching one out of curiosity.]

"No guarantees. Anyway, let's just get over there. Can't have the Old Man lose reputation."

Dream rose up and equipped Aegis, blasting off into the distance.

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

"There you are."

Dream floated down in front of the biggest Spire. The Spire. And sure enough, Riddick was outside waiting.

"This is where you are all the time?"

"Yes. Come with me. Some of them are already there."

Saying so, Riddick began flying up. Dream got confused before following him.

As they rose, they passed along the various mana filled veins traveling up the Spire. When Dream took a close look, he found that the veins were actually mithril. But this mithril was stronger than any mithril he had ever seen. 

"This must be the legendary pure mithril."

"It is."

Riddick answered as a matter of fact. Dream suddenly increased his respect for the people who built this.

Soon, they rose up about 900 meters, 200 meters below the top. In front of them was a door with a ledge. 

"Here."

Riddick went over and opened it. It led into a hallway, which they followed until they entered a large chamber.

In this chamber was a big table with many seats around it. It was obviously meant for meetings. Though it was very extravagant. The table was thoroughly enchanted as were the chairs, and the walls and ceiling of the chamber had all kinds of decorations like chandeliers and statues.

When they entered, there were indeed people already there. 12 people looked over at Riddick and Dream.

"Riddick. It's good to see you."

"Hello, Merlin."

"Merlin?" 

Dream was surprised to see Mara's guardian here. Why was he here?

Merlin saw Dream's face and smiled.

"They can't send so many people over without a good healer. And I happen to be the best. I'll be among the escort, as will Mara."

"Oh, so she's coming too."

"Indeed. A hospital isn't the only place for a healer. One of the best is the battlefield. She's been prepared enough, I only hope that she doesn't get scared. But with you there, I don't think I'll need to worry."

"Oh, thanks. I guess."

Dream sheepishly scratched his head. It would be kind of awkward meeting Mara after this.

"Come sit. I saved you seats." 

Merlin walked them over and showed them to two chairs next to his. They sat down. Or at least Dream did. 

"Riddick."

"Garvaad."

"Riddick!"

"Hello."

Various people began walking over wanting to talk to Riddick. Dream just sat there wondering how this Old Man became so popular.

"Everyone quiet down! Magus Idona and Magus Keeba have arrived."

When they heard that, everyone stopped chatting and took their seats. Moments later, the two grand doors leading into the chamber were opened.

"""Magus."""

Everyone stood from their seat when the Magi walked in, greeting them. Dream also stood from his seat, copying whatever etiquette they had. 

"Take a seat everyone. No need to be so formal."

They all nodded and sat back down. The Magi rose up and flew over to two grand chairs at the head of the table obviously built for them. 

Dream used his bracelet to talk to Riddick.

'Old Man?'

'Magus Idona is the woman, and Keeba is the man. Two of the seven class 4's that the Spire has.'

'I see...'

'And I wouldn't recommend talking over mana. They can detect that and it's considered impolite.'

'These bracelets don't communicate over mana. They communicate over electrical signals, something they definitely can't detect. So don't worry.'

'...Alright.'

Riddick just accepted it. It wasn't the first time he didn't understand how one of Dream's devices worked. 

"The meeting will now commence."

"Thank you for being here everyone."

Magus Idona, the woman, spoke to everyone at the table. 

When Dream checked her out, he found that she was definitely one of the prettiest women he had ever seen. Whether her looks were due to her power or just genetics he didn't know, but she would definitely pass for a supermodel on Earth. Keeba though, was a bit of a different case.

Magus Keeba was a rather plump man. Dream very curiously wondered how a man at his power was able to retain the fat that he did. It was more of an accomplishment if anything. But although he was a bit fat, he wasn't all that bad looking. Though his scrunched and mean-looking face didn't help with that.

"The reason we're here today is to discuss the demon threat and our plan of action in two days. We've received multiple pieces of intelligence from both the Mercenary Empire as well as our own people there. None of it has been good. Scouts discovering waves of enemies is common and any transportation going near the land bridge gets wiped out. Though the biggest piece of intelligence has come from one of us here today. I'm sure you all have seen the detailed report."

All of the mages nodded and many looked over to Riddick and Dream. Dream's heart began thumping in nervousness.

"This report gives detailed observations of the demons on the third continent. How they've established multiple bases, the kingdoms they've wiped out to do so, and their rate of proliferation. This intelligence has been passed to the other Empires due to everything being confirmed by scouts, which means the person who collected this intelligence is able to do so effectively. Riddick."

"Yes, Magus."

"It has come to our attention that it was not you who collected this intelligence."

"That is correct. It was my student here, Dream."

Riddick pointed to Dream, who was no longer feeling at all confident despite his confidence-boosting classy attire.

'Hey! Am I going to be expected to explain my information channels?! How am I going to tell them about my drones and satellites in space?!'

'Just say that you made a golem and was able to collect intelligence through that.'

'Golems exist?'

'Yes. Now start preparing your responses. I hope you're good at acting.'

'You really hate me don't you...'

Dream huffed at him. Though they were speaking intensely over the bracelets, they showed none of it on the outside. 

"Dream..."

"Yes."

He looked to Magus Idona who was sizing him up. Other than hiding the fact that he wasn't organic, Dream's power was left for them to see.

"You collected this intelligence?"

"I did. It was mostly by chance and I passed it to Riddick since I thought it was important."

"So you were there?"

"...In a way."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I happen to be an enchanter and was able to make a tool that can send me information over distances. So although I wasn't there personally, my tool was. It was through this that I gathered my information."

"And you did this over how long of a period?"

"About a month."

"I see. Now in this report that you made, you went on about how dangerous these demons were. Although we've read this report and have confirmed the majority of its elements, their threat has yet to reach such a level. And the credibility of this report has gone own after knowing that it didn't come from one of our class 3's, but his unknown student. So, we would like you to describe it yourself, the threat of these demons."

"..."

Dream went quiet when all eyes were put on him. Though he understood their suspicion, he couldn't emphasize enough the threat of the demons and how it would only grow. But being emotional about it would do the opposite of what he wanted, so he took a moment to formulate his words with a bit of help from Sophia.

"...Demons are a race of monsters that have the sole purpose of killing, not unlike monsters in dungeons. But the difference between them is that demons are capable of spawning at an insane rate. How, I'm not sure. I have yet to observe personally. But here's what I know. A month ago, there were no demons. Those kingdoms I spoke about in the report that were annihilated were still standing only a month ago. But within the first week or so of their discovery, a kingdom was destroyed. And not even a week after that, the second was destroyed. 

Now I don't know how strong the kings of those kingdoms were, but they were likely no weaker than a high-level class 2, if not class 3. So this means it only took them a week to go from nothing to being capable of killing class 3's. And now they're flooding into our continent with class 3's in the mix only two weeks later. Now I personally have no doubt that they have a class 4 back at one of those kingdoms. That's common for any army or kingdom, the strongest stay back. And to be sending class 3's as vanguard troop, this means they are plenty powerful in their core.

I don't know which one of you have ever seen such a race capable of increasing their power in such a short time, but I haven't. And knowing that they only get stronger with time, I wouldn't hesitate to destroy them before they're allowed to gain any more power. Now I would ask you all this, do you really want to wait until it's too late? Is it going to take you seeing class 4's marching over for you to finally send an army over to fight a war? I would imagine that if the Animal Empires were sending class 3's, you wouldn't be wondering over whether or not to retaliate.

And if that doesn't convince you, I would then ask why you wouldn't want to nip a potential threat in the bud? If you think it's too weak to be considered a big threat, then you should have no problem heading over there really quick and just wiping them out. Then you won't ever have to worry about them again and we can all go back to reading books.... That's all I have to say."

Dream relaxed after talking, but still kept his confident aura that had built up through the talk. The only way for them to take him seriously was if he acted seriously. 

"...He makes a good point. Does anyone have anything to say?"

"I do."

A man several seats away stood up.

"Dream. Why do you think we should be the ones to go?"

"Because you know about the threat and are capable of stopping it."

"The Mercenary Empire has people capable of stopping it. Shouldn't they?"

"I don't know about the situation over there and I'm not arguing whether they should do it instead of us. Though I wouldn't have expected a question like that anyway. I mean, who's gonna pass up experience? There are hordes of monsters ripe for the killing."

"So why aren't you going?"

"Who said I'm not going?"

"..."

The mage questioning Dream couldn't respond and sat down.

"Dream is actually the one who has offered to provide transportation. Which brings us to our next topic."

"How is he supposed to have transportation superior to ours? Since when do we need help from a child?"

Another mage spoke up this time. Many others also had disapproving faces.

"Dream, we appreciate the offer, but the Spire has its own enchanted items to transport people. Though I don't doubt your enchanting skills, it's hard to believe that you have something better than what our best enchanters are able to produce." (Idona)

"If you don't mind me asking, how long would it take using your transportation to reach the Empire?"

"With all of us it might take 8 hours at most."

"Oh, then if I could, I would like to transport myself."

"...Why is that?"

"Because I wouldn't want to wait for 8 hours."

"Implying..."

"My transportation is faster. And it's very comfortable if I might add."

"How much faster?"

"I can reach that Empire in about an hour."

"Impossible."

Another mage spoke out. He wasn't the only one, and others began to speak up in doubt and scorn. Dream expected such a reaction and disregarded the looks on everyone's faces.

"Look, I'm not trying to compete. I just want to be comfortable while going there. And an 8 hour ride on something I haven't seen before doesn't sound comfortable."

"How many people can this item hold?"

"About 60 comfortably."

"...And you made this item yourself?"

"Yes."

"If I may."

Riddick suddenly spoke up.

"I can vouch for this item of his. I've been in one personally."

"...Very well. We'll use Dream's transportation. I'm sure everyone here is very interested in this item of his."

"It'll be ready at any time."

"Good. Now, after Dream's convincing argument, I've decided to proceed with the operation. We will go to the Mercenary Empire and assist in the scouting and combat of this demon threat. Are there any objections?"

"..."

"No? Then we will proceed as planned. Two days from now at dawn we will embark. I hope your item turns out to be satisfactory, Dream."

"Don't worry, Magus Idona. You will be thoroughly pleased by my item."

Both of them looked at each other, smiling. Meanwhile, the faces of every man in the room began to twitch.