Nothing changed much after Luna and Alice appeared. For the next long while, Dream continued to lay back and ponder the universe.
In his concept of Physical Reality, Dream was constantly learning all he could from those around him. Vursoid gave the greatest amounts of information while Dream occasionally mined away with Kevin or steal some of Quanta's gadgets.
After some time, Dream quickly noticed an abnormality with the others though.
None of them attempted to comprehend all aspects of Physical Reality. For instance, Quanta specialized in devices based off of quantum mechanics, but Kevin hadn't the slightest clue about how Quanta's bots worked. For someone who was comprehending a concept, Dream found it shocking to know that they didn't study everything.
They all fell into their own specialized paths and pushed that set of knowledge to its extremes. This was very much unlike Dream who worked from the ground up, learning absolutely everything he could across every subject.
Dream obviously asked about this, and the answer he got was surprising.
Apparently, the concept of Physical Reality was indeed one of the highest concepts. Dream had seen the 7 monoliths in the legacy space, those holding conceptual information for Time, Creation, Annihilation, and other concepts. Those concepts were the highest concepts in all the universe. And Physical Reality was the highest concept under the Creation concept.
In short, it was a hard concept, and there was no god for the concept. To become the god of a concept you had to fully comprehend it. Nobody had yet to do so.
Vursoid had even given Dream a frame of reference. Vursoid was the god of the concept of the Spear. And that concept was far lesser than Physical Reality. Not even he could get past a certain level, and that was with his godly existence.
It was at this point though that Dream came to an impasse in his thoughts.
What gave someone the ability to comprehend a concept? Why did there seem to be limits? Vursoid was a god. To someone like that, was there such thing as potential or talent?
Many people thought that talent was inherent, something they were born with. Becoming a class 6 meant bringing together all of your talent and potential, forming the highest being you could be. With your ultimate being, you would comprehend the concepts.
In that case, it was your class 6 soul that placed limits on your comprehension. Still, Dream wanted to know what it meant to comprehend something, and how that filled the finite vessel that was the soul.
Going that far, Dream didn't seem to believe in the notion of talent. There was always a root to someone's power. Dream had always been able to increase his power with something. At first it was mana, then flux, then aether, then Divine Light, then Dust, and now concepts. There was always something beyond talent that increased a person's power.
In this way, Dream even treated himself as mere material, just like he did those poor souls he used for Dust extraction. He knew that he was a mere conglomeration of Divine Light and changes in informational states. While he became a partially conceptual existence through Dust, he still believed that he was mere energy, purely because there was a root to everything. Therefore, he didn't believe in anything abstract like talent. The fact that he manufactured bots with power was proof that talent was just some obscure notion of intellectual differences.
In short, power did not stem from the abstract.
Whether it was Dust or concepts, Dream wanted to find the root to these apparent limits. He wanted to find the why behind progression.
This is what he's always done. Only this time, it would be countless times more difficult. It wasn't simply grasping at faint energies in the atmosphere. It was truly poking at the secrets of the universe.
And Dream knew it would take a while. Fortunately, while he wouldn't be able to comprehend Physical Reality anytime soon, he did have other ideas.
Dream knew that he was now a partially conceptual existence. Because of this, those persons in his two conceptual worlds were similarly infinite.
But he couldn't go suddenly creating infinite copies of those bodies. His self in the 3rd dimension was still finite. So, he opted for an experiment.
In the concept of Ethereal Force, Dream's transparent figure had been drifting around the topmost layer of stormy magical seas, trying to grass at even the simplest rules behind magic. He had zero progress, so that body was just floating around aimlessly.
Until it suddenly sat up. The body shook several times, distorting and becoming indiscernible for occasional moments. This happened over the course of several days before finally, the transparent figure split in two. One body remained while the other shot out of the concept.
"Ouch."
In the real world, Dream frowned as his mind space cracked. With a thought, he retrieved some Divine Light from his Sea and formed another Divine Sea. After rooting the additional conceptual existence to the Divine Sea, he stabilized.
"So the limit of my conceptual bodies is the amount of Divine Seas I can produce. I can't produce a lot, and as my concepts get stronger, I need to reinforce the Seas with Divine Light. I can reasonably accommodate... 13 total bodies."
Dream came to that conclusion, obviously factoring in a safeguard storage of Divine Light.
Then, the body that was now floating in conceptual space split. From it came 10 more copies, making 13 total. The 11 copies in conceptual space looked around.
Conceptual space was a realm where the concepts resides in tangible forms. Looking up, Dream could see some of the highest concepts.
He could see the concept of Creation, Life, Annihilation, and Death floating as massive worlds at the peaks of conceptual space. He couldn't see the concepts of Order, Chaos, or Time, likely because they were far too powerful to be contained as tangible bodies.
And below these concepts were the lesser concepts. Dream could see both of his concepts, that of Physical Reality and Ethereal Force. These two were located underneath and attached to Creation, Life, Annihilation, and Death. Combinations of concepts could produce a myriad of others, and many could be connected to a single one.
Dream saw this as he looked further and further down, seeing countless branches to countless different concepts. Really, there seemed to be a concept for everything.
Electromagnetism, water, the sword, light, wood, metal, blood, lineage, the moon, valiance, love, fear, darkness.
All kinds of concepts for all kinds of different things in the universe. Of course, many of the inconsequential ones weren't that powerful, but nonetheless, they were concepts.
And Dream has a simple goal when he decided to make copies of his conceptual self.
Unlike others, he wasn't limited by being blessed by the concepts. Or, that was his assumption. Either way, he wasn't under the System, and he didn't have to only pick two concepts. So long as he could handle it, he could go to as many concepts as he wanted.
So he looked around, remembering all the myriads of concepts. At some point, he was able to discover which concepts had gods controlling them. But he didn't care much. Luna had left him with a great deal of information, and this information told him that unlike what he was doing, not even gods could restrict access to a concept. At most they could maintain their position as a god, but even that was debatable. They could be brought down and killed, their concept being taken over by another. Under the System, nothing was absolute.
This was what made Dream's control so terrifying. He was actually able to control a concept to its core. If he became the god of a concept, he could kick everyone else out, barring them from ever comprehending his concept. This was why a universal war was on the horizon. Many didn't want him to have this power.
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But that was something to worry about later. For now, Dream decided to just find himself a few concepts that he liked.
Before he could move far though, Dream's soul suddenly shuddered. Then, all of conceptual space rippled around him. It wasn't threatening. In fact, it was almost... pleading.
Then, thousands of rays of light shot toward his bodies. When Dream received and processed all the information passed to him, he was baffled.
"They've... blessed me."
Dream could sense thousands of marks now present within his mind space. As if they had sensed his desire to comprehend other concepts, these concepts actively reached out to him, all of them blessing him with the right to enter their worlds. There were few that didn't reach out to him. Only the abysmally weak ones and highest concepts didn't.
"...Well, I guess that makes things easier. Now, what to choose..."
With basically every door open to him now, Dream merely had to pick which ones to walk through. He looked around, pondering for a long while.
..............
..........
......
5 more years pass.
Unfortunately, Dream was nowhere nearer to fixing his problem.
Over the five years, he did nothing more than ponder the universe, constantly trying to attempt to take back control of magic. Unfortunately, he could still do nothing more than wave rocks around.
On the other hand, Luna and Alice only got more power. Luna was even closer to becoming a goddess in one of her lesser concepts. Only, she would have to fight the god of the concept to do so, something she was holding off on doing so as to not risk attracting attention and Dream being discovered.
Alice also seemed to become more and more nonexistent. It has long since passed the point of Dream not being able to see her unless she wanted him to. Even Luna could barely make out Alice's existence when she really wanted to hide.
And although they were more than capable of protecting Dream, they still only got more and more worried.
Although Dream didn't mention anything, he was actually getting less powerful over time.
Even his control over the material world began to slip through his fingers. Dream was now occupying 11 more concepts, 6 in low level magic concepts and 5 in low level material concepts. But as he began to learn more and more, he realized that everything he knew about controlling the material, while not false, was extraordinarily complex.
Dream had previously controlled the material world with his Will. He was capable of grasping the smallest building blocks of the universe in order to construct anything he wanted. Even the fundamental forces could be altered as he wished. But he realized that Will alone couldn't possibly control even dirt, and as soon as he came to this conjecture, he lost his unfathomable manipulation abilities.
Dream was lucky that the atrocious energy flowing through his physical body was self contained, and he never ended up detonating like his cosmic form. Still, he was now nothing more than a flesh and blood man whose flesh and blood coursed with the power of the star.
All of this caused Luna and Alice to become more and more worried. Dream was basically tossing away all of his power because he didn't have the whole truth. While Luna knew that the concepts were at partial fault, she also knew that if Dream remained partially ignorant of what he didn't know, then he would be able to retain his power.
Because Dream knew that his powers shouldn't work, the concepts no longer made things work automatically for him. Everyone else in the universe had the benefit of the doubt. Long ago, when Dream and Iris were nothing more than class 2's, Iris had been able to create fire from mana. Dream refused to believe it was possible. And technically, it wasn't possible for her to do that. Did Iris know how to change the state of existence for mana to become fire? Of course not. But because she was ignorant, the concepts allowed the transformation to happen. If not for this, nobody in the universe would be able to wield abilities and skills.
And now, Dream was realizing his ignorance. And because he knew his abilities shouldn't work, the concepts no longer gave his powers the magical abilities to just work like they always have. Now, Dream was required to learn of the true why's behind the functions of the universe. Otherwise he wouldn't be capable of wielding power.
If he remained ignorant, then he could regain his powers. But Dream refused to do such a thing. He would rather throw everything away before he willfully chose to become ignorant. While Luna was distressed by this, she never once attempted to change his mind.
As he told her long ago, his pursuit of knowledge came first. Power was always secondary. He had always followed this principle, putting his life at risk dozens of times for the mere acquisition of knowledge. This was no different.
But despite his loss of power, Dream didn't actually lose the miraculous abilities of his mind. While Dream also knew that his mind shouldn't work the way it did, he wasn't yet smart enough know what he didn't know. So he retained those abilities, keeping the door open for someday comprehending the secrets he needed to know.
And so, the universe was kept in a state of limbo. Dream was still nowhere to be found, so the war couldn't start. However, it was at the end of those five years that the situation saw a slight change.
Iris began to attack Heaven.
It was both a small and significant matter. Iris marched with armies onto one of the largest battlefields between Heaven and hell, a secondary world that had been forged through the fires of war for countless years. It was one of the many deadlock planets, a place of eternal death.
Luna had come to Dream with news once she had conquered the planet, taking no more than a day to do so. However, Dream hadn't the mind to care too much.
Or, he cared about Iris' news, but in a different way.
"Asmodeus is dead."
As Luna spoke of her news, Dream suddenly blurted out. Luna was quickly shocked.
"...Iris killed him?"
"Seems like it. And... she's in my concept."
Dream spoke as his awareness focused on his Concept of Physical Reality.
Dream had been sitting with Houyi atop his celestial platform. But as soon as Asmodeus quietly died, everyone noticed the change.
They especially noticed the tyrannical figure that marched into the concept not long after. With every step the massive fox took, a portion of the concept was seemingly eroded and eaten. While it wasn't quick, and the concept wasn't actually damaged, everyone still felt control over a tiny portion of the concept slip from their fingers. Of course, Dream had long lost his comprehensions, but he still felt the change.
Dream stood from the platform. While everyone else seemed to teleport using their abilities, Dream had to opt for a brutish approach, directly jumping across the planet with his powerful legs.
With a bang, Dream arrived. The small forest he landed in was quickly burned away, the trees disintegrating until there wasn't even ash left. The fox that has stopped its march looked around, growling at the others.
"So this is where Asmodeus was hiding? The sex dungeon atop his mountain was surely fitting. It was far worse in on his primary world though. I swear, I've never seen so many willfully nude demons frolicking about."
Iris' voice was grating on the soul, making everyone frown. Ziji, who was now an old man, snorted at the fox.
"You... World Eater... How did you come here?"
"Oh? You must be that Ziji. I came here after killing that damned Asmodeus, and I took everything he was good for. The god of lust, hm? It's a dirty concept, but damn was it tasty. The Terra Core of his primary world was good too."
"...No way..."
Ziji was a bit horrified. While he abhorred Asmodeus, he knew just how powerful he was. Everyone was in disbelief as Iris' aura only grew more powerful.
That was when Iris finally laid eyes on that transparent figure. At first she didn't recognize who it was. But then, she remembered her sister's words, and her eyes widened.
Dream tilted his head.
"So you're eating gods now, huh?"
"...Dream..."
The fox suddenly recoiled, and everyone perked up. Then, they were shocked again when the fox quickly backpedaled.
"No... I can't..."
"Iris?"
"Don't look at me!"
Dream was surprised when Iris turned tail, shooting into the ground of the world. Before he could say anything else, she exited the concept, her hold over the concept vanishing with it.
The world instantly healed, the lively forest returning. Ziji had turned to Dream though, his eyes wide.
"You're... the Asura craftsman."
"...Yea."
Dream scratched his head as his figure was no longer transparent. He now looked like his normal self. Ziji was smart, so there was no use in hiding it any longer.
"Don't tell anyone though."
"...It's no longer up to me."
Ziji shook his head. At that moment, they all felt a strong ripple in the concepts.
Suddenly, from the center of the concept, a large eye appeared.
"Seeker!!"
A roar shook the concept, and the eye focused on Dream's form. It was then that Dream sighed.
"So you're the one who was looking for me? I had avoided it as long as I could..."
"The Universe will have your soul!"
"Good luck getting past my wives. They're seriously scary right now."
Dream waved at the eye with a smile. It wasn't a contemptuous smile. It was as if he was merely informing the eye of the reality.
With a blink, the eye disappeared as quickly as it came. Dream let out another sigh, turning to Vursoid.
"...Well, looks like the war is starting. Buckle up, friend."
"..."
Vursoid's eye twitched. How could Dream be so nonchalant about all this? It baffled the others as well.
"I'll be in Kevin's mineshaft if you need me."
Saying that, Dream turned and walked away, making his way over to the mineshaft. Everyone looked at each other, profound thoughts brewing behind their minds.
At the same time, in the real world, Dream turned to Luna.
"Hey wife, the war has started."
"Huh? Like..."
"The Universal War. I've been found."
"...Interesting."
Luna seemed to stifle a smile, looking off into the distance. It was a tragic event, but she had secretly been looking forward to it.
Alice also appeared at that moment. She was a bit more honest with her feelings, and she began jumping for joy.
"Finally! Hey Luna, let's go kill those gods. Once you take their god cores, you'll finally become a goddess!"
"Mm. The sooner the better. Dream?"
"I'll be fine. Vursoid should be coming over when you leave. Go on and become the goddess you were always meant to be."
"Eh, so cheesy."
Luna smiled brightly before giving Dream a kiss. Once Alice did the same, the duo teleported away, off to kill the gods in their way.
For a moment, there was silence in the spire that Dream sat atop of. The floor that extended for miles around, the windows that gave view into the surrounding universe... It was both incredibly lonely yet comfortable for that lone man sitting lazily in his chair.
His head gradually hung, his hand supporting his chin.
"...I guess I better stop accumulating. It's time to take another step forward. Isn't that right..."
Dream's head drifted. To his side, he could see a vague figure, both real yet not a part of this universe. The figure looked back, a small smile on its face.
It waved before disappearing.
"...Sylus..."