"Now, what are these skills exactly?"

As Dream looked at his new skills, he felt a rush of excitement.

[Particle Manipulation is the evolved material magic and Arcana is the evolved Magic.]

"Actually, let's go over your own upgrades first."

[Ok! Well, I really only gained one ability called [Construct]. You were originally supposed to get it but it was integrated with me by that dude. Other than that, my original abilities like emulator, perception, mind space, and cognitive manipulation were evolved. Though they didn't really change names. Here's what it looks like.]

[Sophia]:

[Mind Space] - A space created from the cognitive ability of the soul. Similar to a virtual space. Informations can be stored and processed here. [Parallel Processing] - Allows user to separate their thought process and analysis of phenomena. [Thought Acceleration] - Multiplies thought speed according to level and Agility. [Emulator] - The ability to analyze, copy, and modify skills. Requires understanding of the involved skill signatures. [Dimensional Analysis] - The ability to perceive the world by analysis from a higher dimension. Currently limited to the 4th Dimension. Perception of the 4th Dimension dependent on the involved phenomena and perceptive medium. [Influence] - The ability to influence perception.

[The only ones that really changed were Perception which is now Dimensional Analysis and Cognitive Manipulation which is now Influence.]

"Oo. Cool skills."

[I know. I'm already able to notice the difference from before. And just because the others are named the same doesn't mean they aren't much better than before. My processing ability has jumped leaps and bounds.]

"I'm excited to see it."

[I'm excited to show you.]

"Now as for my two new skills, are there any large differences?"

[Major differences. They really can be considered completely different skills. But they both still work towards the same purpose, which is material and magical manipulation. Try creating the globe network.]

"Okay."

Dream nodded and moved his mana according to the template they made before.

Super dense mana gushed out of his body and went to form their globes. When they did, the connections were made all at once and thus created the network.

It only took a few seconds.

"Hoho, this is nice. And damn, my mana is super dense. Like, I'm pretty sure it's a fog."

Dream ejected a bit of mana above his palm. And sure enough, he could 'see' transparent fog.

[I guess in exchange for a smaller pool, you got denser mana. Definitely a win.]

"Definitely. Now, although I'm analyzing these skills, I can fully feel their effects. Like, I'm picking up on another energy floating around. It's very faint, but I can sense it. And if I concentrate, I can see the particles of Aegis over my skin. Like, I could before, but this time it's in more detail. I'm pretty sure we could upgrade him again."

[We easily could. But until we understand a bit more about the skills practically, we should wait. And that energy you're sensing may actually be flux.]

"So I can sense flux now?"

[I think so. I can also barely pick up on the energy and it's much more concentrated around you and Aegis than other objects.]

"Hehe, I can see flux now. That definitely means I will be able to control it! Someday at least. Oh, and another thing I'm noticing is my range of influence. It's much larger than before."

Dream felt around using his senses and could actually sense outside the tower. And this wasn't using mana sense but his soul's Will.

As he got more powerful, his Will would expand bit by bit. It first started inside his body and gradually expanded out a few feet. Anything within this range would allow him to analyze it on a much deeper level than anything outside it. But since it had been such a short range, he had only ever slightly noticed its effects when crafting or looking at his body.

But now, that range seemed to explode. He could sense everything in every direction, and it wasn't hindered by walls nor enchantments. He could just 'see' it all with crystal clear clarity. In fact, when he first noticed this range, other people were alerted and he had to reign in this Will of his.

[This must be that aura from the class 4's. I knew it wasn't just mana. Turns out it was their soul's Will.]

"Idona's will could reach down over 400 meters when we had gone to the Mercenary Empire. I guess there's a reason why they're class 4's. how far can mine reach?"

[This tower is around 150 meters wide, so I'd say around 100 if you really let it go.]

"100 meters of perfect senses. Though I actually have to extend it to use it."

[Like everything else though we can use the new Influence skill to mask it. Nobody at or below your level will be able to sense you. Plus we can sense things using mana and through the 4th dimension. If we look from there, nothing in the 3rd dimension can hide from you, and I'm pretty sure even 4th classes would fail to pick up on you that way.]

"Even better. Although it was kind of already like that, I have still noticed the improvement. I think we can agree that overall, I've received a huge jump in power. And things are only going to take off from here as I use the skills. We'll be able to understand them just like before and create better gear. We'll be able to do so much more..."

As Dream fantasized about all the new possibilities, his satisfaction grew. This is exactly what he was doing all of this for. He had discovered so much, but another door was just opened and led to a much wider world. It gave him a great sense of fulfillment.

[By the way, Riddick has reached his class advancement as well.]

"Already?"

[From how excited he is right now to all the things he was yelling out, yes, I'm pretty sure he has.]

"Has he done the advancement?"

[Not sure. He's recovering while listening to Idona on what to expect. At least, that's what I think is going on. Idona put up a barrier around them and I'm not receiving any more signals. He actually might be going through the advancement right now.]

"I hope he is. He's been working a long time to get to that level. Hopefully things go well. And maybe we'll be able to snatch the girl's back."

[Given enough preparation, we might be able to do that ourselves. But with Riddick's help, yes, it would be very possible.]

"Good. Very good..."

Dream became expectant. Both of them were finally at that level where they could recapture the girls as well as keep those foxes off their asses. So as long as they got them out of the United Empire, they would be safe.

"Now for the last order of business. The meeting. When is it?"

[Tomorrow afternoon. In about 16 hours.]

"Alright. Prepare the intelligence we have and make sure we're totally prepared."

[Already done.]

"Oh, ok. Then I guess we should see if there's anything we can do to help the Old Man. Prepare a plane so I can head over there."

Dream began walking out of the room. Though as he did, Sophia spoke.

[You're actually faster than the plane.]

"On god?"

[Yup. Whether it's traveling through orbit or just straight to a location, you can move faster. You can be at Riddick's location in around 30 minutes by straight flying.]

"Heh, cool. Then let's do that. Now, how the hell do I get out of this labyrinth?"

As Dream left Idona's chambers, he only saw a bunch of hallways and doors. He had no idea the layout of this place.

[Just follow the path.]

Sophia blipped his vision, which he quickly followed. Soon, he was flying out of the city and into the air.

...........

.......

In merely half an hour, Dream arrived on the 3rd continent. Though it could be considered the demon continent now.

This was where Riddick had been going to train. And now it was where he was advancing.

Dream floated down towards Idona, who was maintaining a dense mana bubble around Riddick.

"Dream?"

Idona noticed his arrival and turned to him. She frowned after she sensed his aura though.

"You advanced?"

"Yup. Is that bad?"

"No, I just wish you would've told me. Especially considering you attempted a full-body pathway. But since you're already done, I guess there's nothing I can do now. *sigh* How did it go?"

"Amazing, actually. I've had a huge jump in power. Check out my mana."

Dream raised his hand and created some fog above it. Idona saw it and widened her eyes.

"Fog? But you've only just advanced!"

"I know right. It's pretty awesome. But less about me. How's he doing?"

Dream changed the subject and turned to Riddick.

"He began his advancement about 4 hours ago."

"How long will it take?"

"Mine took 10 hours. And while humans go through a different process than elves, for him I'm gonna guess around 12 hours. So 8 to go."

"I see. Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Other than providing a dense mana environment, not really. It's all up to him."

"Wouldn't it be best to bring him back to your chamber then?"

"Actually no. Class 4 advancements can get rather violent so it's best to do it outside. Especially for someone like him who has such destructive mana. His advancement will be very unique."

"Alright. Then allow me to assist."

Saying so, Dream began bringing out his remaining materials. Very quickly he crafted large particles of metal, much larger than Aegis' particles but much smaller than anything you could grab.

After he made a mixture of steel and mithril particles he enchanted them all with only one function: condense mana.

Since it was simple, the crafting was done quickly. Dream deployed the particles which flew over to Idona's existing dome, surrounding it and going to work.

Soon, a dense fog was condensed around the dome. Idona was surprised and dissipated her own dome, letting the fog in.

"Wow. Impressive. It saves me a lot of energy."

"Enchanting is pretty great. That'll give him plenty of mana. Though even then he might need much more. I mean, look at that vortex."

Dream watch Riddick as he sat there. All around him mana was swirling and being sucked into his body like a hurricane. It looked very similar to Dream's recent advancement, just on a much larger scale.

"He's been like that and will remain like that for a while. In the meantime, all we can do is guard him."

Dream nodded. But he wasn't about to stand there watching that hurricane for 10 hours so he hailed his luxurious ship from who knows where. When it landed near them, Dream and Idona relaxed and lounged around in it, talking about all sorts of things and enjoying each other.

..........

......

"Haahh...Hahaha..."

A low, satisfied laugh could be heard inside a dense maelstrom of black, viscous mana. After it sounded, the maelstrom began calming and the mana was fully absorbed by the man in the center.

"Finally..."

The man stood up. His eyes were entirely black as he felt the changes in his body. As everything calmed, the black cracks all over his body gradually receded and disappeared. His eyes also returned to normal.

Dream, who was laying on the ceiling in this ship, turned his head and noticed the changes. Idona, who was laying upside down on a couch, also noticed the changes.

"Looks like the Old Man finished."

"Indeed."

Both of them adjusted themselves and exited the ship, going to greet a newly advanced Riddick.

"Hey Old Man! Still more powerful than me? Think fast."

As he approached, Dream suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to Riddick. He threw a powerful, mana loaded punch towards his ribs.

"Hmph."

*Boom*

Riddick snorted and moved his arm, grabbing Dream's fist. The resulting impact released a shockwave as the fist was kept from moving any farther.

"My strength is my lowest stat."

"...Whatever."

As Riddick had only barely stopped the fist the way he did, he wasn't happy when he heard that statement. They both pulled away from each other, dusting themselves off.

"So? What's your mana at now?"

"S. What's yours at?"

"A+"

"Pui... How could this be any more unfair. I had only barely gotten above that stat before I advanced."

"I know. Idona told me. But hey, now you're 2 whole levels above me. But the big question is this, how dense is your mana?"

"Heh. Behold."

Riddick smiled before lifting his palm. Out of it came a stream of black liquid as dark as the void. It also emitted gray smoke around it as if the liquid couldn't contain the mana.

"Liquid mana. Impressive. I was only able to get a fog."

Dream lifted his palm and let out a transparent fog. Riddick looked at it curiously.

"Why is it clear?"

"Honestly, not sure. It was just like that. Why is yours black?"

"Because mine is destructive, a result of my blessing. If you saw, Idona's is green, a result of her nature-oriented mana and her elf species."

"Hmm. I wonder about mine then."

"But now's not the time for that."

Idona came walking up, interrupting their conversation.

"Riddick. Your advancement took 18 hours total. Which is fine, but the meeting is 4 hours from now."

"Oh, right. Are we prepared?"

"For the most part. Dream and I had discussed it while waiting. It's being held at the Enchanted Mountain, and that isn't exactly close. In fact, we were supposed to leave with our colleagues from the Spire 4 hours ago. Since we missed it, we'll need to take ourselves. Luckily Dream has prepared for that."

"Yup. The ship is ready, so we can leave whenever."

"I'm good now."

"Then let's board."

The three turned to the ship, quickly boarding it and taking a seat.

After they sat down, the hatch closed and the engines began to roar with power. Mana also began to circulate in huge amounts, assisting with the liftoff.

"By the way, Old Man."

Dream spoke before they blasted off. They turned to each other.

"Congrats. We'll be able to get them soon."

"Mm."

Riddick nodded with conviction. That's what it was all for.

After that, the ship's nose pointed to the sky and the engines went full power. All three of them were anchored down by the enchantments, making it so they didn't fly around.

Under the improved systems of the ship, they quickly flew through the atmosphere and into orbit along the predesignated path. Riddick and Idona looked out the windows, getting a full view of the planet.

"Oh my..."

"..."

Both of them were speechless as they took in the miraculous sight. They didn't even have the care to ask any questions.

But the view didn't last forever. When the ship hit a certain point on the path, it tilted and began reentry. In only several minutes they were back under the sky. And sure enough, they could both see the Enchanted Mountain in the distance.

The plane headed straight for their destination.