Dream didn't spend much time shuttling through space before coming to a stop and beginning another session of study.

The first thing he did was further utilize [Arcane Transmutation]. To study the process of transmutation more, he naturally needed to observe it. Like this, he was able to quickly solidify his knowledge of the process.

After handling it a bit more, Dream was able to use [Dimensional Tunneling], [Particle Manipulation], and [Arcane Transmutation] in conjunction to ascend either matter or energy, turning it into mana or flux. He figured out ways to increase efficiency, making it less costly on his soul energy. The soul powered everything from moving mana to enchanting, but the energy wasn't unlimited. It could be said that all people, all souls, were merely batteries by which all magic was powered.

Only, this logic wouldn't remain forever. Dream was overturning it every day.

Physical energy could be converted to flux, effectively meaning matter could affect mana by transferring force. The only limiter was Dream's ability to impart the effects of his skills onto material objects through his influence. He immediately thought of creating a sustainable chain reaction where infinite magical force could be produced, like a magic fusion reactor, but those hopes were dashed very quickly. He simply didn't have the energy or comprehension to construct such a thing.

So, he stuck with studying it. He was able to refine his use of the skill, something that actually leveled up his other skills.

Over the course of a few weeks, the level of [Arcane Transmutation] rose to level 75. However, [Particle Manipulation] actually maxed out in level!

Particle Manipulation was a skill that allowed Dream to manipulate particles. Over time, he was able to directly manipulate atoms, and then subatomic particles. Finally, he peered into the 2nd dimension, discovering strings and dots. While he couldn't manipulate those, discovering their functions and ways to control them actually maxed out his skill. Through [Arcane Transmutation], he was able to discover new things about the dots that comprised all material.

The dots actually resided throughout all of space, regardless of whether there was material or not. Dream had realized that dots caused those small quantum fluctuations in vacuum space, and this led him to theorize about zero-point energy. The dots always had a certain value of information that maintained their existence. If one could figure out how to exploit this, they would be able to harness the ever present energy contained in space. This amounted to a staggering amount of energy, more than could be produced from a fusion reactor. However, harnessing this was still beyond Dream's abilities at the moment.

Regardless, Dream indulged in the euphoria of pieces of knowledge clicking together, constantly forming stronger theories and rules. He developed new technologies and even new weapons.

But he couldn't stop at making new and cool technologies. In the 7th month of the 9th year since he had returned to Earth, Dream stopped researching [Arcane Transmutation]. He finally moved on to cracking the demon portal.

At this point, Dream had realized that the demon portal was unimaginably complex. Whenever he solved a problem, 10 more would pop up, making the portal a rabbit hole of arcane tech. He couldn't imagine how the demons had actually constructed this. It seemed impossible for those mindless things to build such an amazing piece of art.

And then there was the bracelet. The bracelet was stolen by Alice from a demon lord, a class 6 demon. According to her, those bracelets were used to allow the demon lord to descend to the portal when it was constructed. If Alice hadn't stolen the bracelet and Dream hadn't killed that artificial class 5 demon, the demon lord would have descended to the world Dream was sent to. If that happened, everyone would have been wiped out, Dream being no exception.

Now, Dream not only had to understand both pieces of tech, but how they connected together. At this point though, he had sufficient foundation to do so.

Dream brought out the portal that rested in his inventory. He and the portal floated beside each other in space. Dream poked into the mechanisms of the portal with his influence.

"...This thing pokes through space, letting others portal to different areas. However, it needs an exit point. It needs an anchor from one point to another. The bracelet is the sender, and the portal is the receiver. The portal actually does all the work though. I wonder why..."

Dream activated his power, searching through the intricate enchantments of the portal and breaking down their functions. He did this for a week, slowly understanding the information behind it.

"This has to be a special function. Alice has said that the demons infiltrate worlds, bringing about the descent of a demon lord. Naturally, I doubt the demon lords know where their little armies go to since there are so many. So he has one bracelet that he uses, and many portals that it can connect to. I'm pretty sure the demons have the blueprints for the portal tech within them. They don't construct it, only following natural instincts. They sacrifice themselves to finalize it and activate it, connecting with the bracelet using coordinates that are already written in their very souls. It's like demons have a System that they use themselves, all for the purpose of taking over worlds. Either way, this portal is able to connect to a set of coordinates. The bracelet only receives it, providing another anchor point once the bridge has been laid. If I can work this correctly, I can remove the need for an anchor point, directly ejecting someone at the coordinates. This is the only way to reach the coordinates I've been given..."

Dream pondered, removing a section of the portal. By now, it had been disassembled into 6 main pieces, each one holding major functions.

He looked through the section, viewing the faint pathways that aether would travel through. Because this portal needed to pierce through space, it naturally relied heavily on aether. Dream already knew he would have to supply a lot, so he already had Aegis start stockpiling.

He broke down the functions, figuring out what every part did. Some parts were responsible for splitting space, while other parts were for sustaining a portion of space for the shuttling of people through it. There were even parts that pierced through dimensions. However, there was one thing Dream was still unable to understand.

"Just how can this portal tunnel across vast distances? Corvatsch was able to make a gateway that led from the Andromeda galaxy to Earth. That's crossing a distance of over 2 million light years. I couldn't imagine crossing such a distance by any means, but he had done it. And while I don't want to doubt his power, I refuse to believe he created a spatial tunnel covering that distance. There's gotta be something else I'm missing."

He thought, never ceasing to analyze everything. After about a month, his understanding of the major functions reached a high level. He had gradually pieced the portal back together. Now, he decided he would do some small tests.

"Let's see if you don't expose your secrets for me."

Saying that, he activated the portal. Aether began to flood the whole system, space twisting in a vortex in the center of the ring. Dream watched with his influence covering the whole thing.

Then, he saw it. The vortex of space pierced into a point several feet behind the portal like a tornado. At that point, the dimension tore, revealing the chaotic void. Dream was stunned as the tornado rushed into the chaotic void.

"So that's it... What's so special about the void? Hm, time for another experiment."

Saying that, Dream shut the portal down. He took out the bracelet, placing it on his arm. He then charged the portal back up.

"Alright, let's go."

He spun around, pointing himself at the sun. Taking a step, Dream disappeared as he tunneled to the star.

After a bit over a day, Dream arrived at the sun's exterior. The flaming mass filled his vision like an endless sea of fire. Turning around, he faced the direction of the portal that he left about 250 million miles away.

"Light takes about 8 minutes to travel from the sun to Earth. The portal is over double the distance away, within the asteroid belt. Now, I've set the coordinates for the bracelet, and it should activate by itself in about 2 minutes. Let's see how fast this connection happens."

Dream took out his pocket watch as he said that. This was his most precise time tracking tool. He used another clock attached to the portal to activate the portal after a certain amount of time. Then, he flew to the sun. This was in order to test the tunneling speed of the portal. The results of this test would determine how effective tunneling through the chaotic void was.

Soon, the time came. Dream watched as the second hand hit the number 12 at the top of the clock. When that happened, a system activated within the clock to start a timer. This was to precisely track the portals tunneling speed.

However, Dream was shocked to see his bracelet light up the instant the timer started. A portal rapidly formed in front of him, quickly stabilizing. Within a couple seconds, the portal was ready to travel through.

"...You can't be serious."

Dream was dumbfounded. It had traversed such an insane distance in an instant. It was faster than light itself. Far faster in fact.

However, he wanted to know if it was effective. He stepped forward, flying into the portal. His body was then enveloped by space, being shot through the void. For the smallest amount of time, Dream was surrounded by that annihilating darkness. He couldn't even get a good look before being shot out.

He found himself among rocks. Behind him was the portal, a spiraling vortex within it. Dream was stupefied as he looked at his pocket watch, seeing how less than a second has passed. There wasn't even any time dilation.

"This is ridiculous... I've been wasting so much time!"

Dream shouted, feeling stupid.

"I've been tunneling through space, traveling slow as a damn snail! Who knew the chaotic void just didn't care about the concept of distance? As long as I have coordinates, I can go anywhere almost instantly!"

Dream yelled in exasperation. He found it impossible that simply entering the chaotic void could enable instantaneous travel to anywhere, but it was shaping up to be that way. While he knew that there must be limitations, he currently saw none.

[Well, if anything is gonna get us to the inner universe, it'll have to be something as insane as this.]

Sophia chimed in, just as shocked as Dream. But it made sense as well. Dream was left with this bracelet and portal as the gateway to the inner universe. It had to be capable of getting him there, and seeing the amazing effects of traveling through the chaotic void, she was understanding that it wouldn't fail him.

As she was thinking this though, Dream suddenly tore open space, exposing the chaotic void like he had done several other times in experiments by accident. Now though, it was on purpose. He exuded a sense of spite as he did so, and Sophia was alarmed to see that the tear was as large as his body.

[Dream?]

"I'm gonna do it."

[Don't! Let's at least take baby steps!]

"There are no baby steps in the chaotic void!"

[You have no idea where it will take you! You can only cross the void with a destination, so going in without one could get you ejected literally anywhere!]

Sophia spoke with a sense of panic. If he spent any amount of time in the void where distance basically didn't exist, then he really could pop out anywhere. It wouldn't be surprising if he was sent back to the Andromeda galaxy. If that happened, who knew if he could get back to Earth.

Dream only pondered for a second though.

"Well, it's a good thing I got the bracelet then, huh? Set a timer for one month and have the portal activate then."

[...We're gonna die.]

"Perhaps. Now let's go!"

With the burning spirit of a scientist, Dream tossed his body into the tear. He was quickly engulfed by black nothingness. Then, the tear closed behind him.

Immediately, Dream could feel oppressive forces bear down upon his body. His very soul felt like it was being torn apart. Dream had to mobilize his aether and influence, pouring as much power as he could into maintaining a stable space around him. However, doing this brought about some amazing effects.

Dream found it incredibly difficult to even move his energy, but he was able to see why. Alice was right that the void didn't even contain space. It was a place of nothingness that existed between dimensions. Dream had used it as a garbage dump many times before because it took things he didn't want far away. Over half of the planet Mercury disappeared like this.

As Dream protected himself, he could feel forces destroy and tear apart his mana and influence. This forced him to constantly expend energy. After some time though, he mobilized enough aether.

He concentrated. In truth, all of this was happening exceptionally fast. Dream bundled together all the aether he could muster, including the aether that Aegis was stockpiling within him. Then, with a burst of energy, he ascended half the aether, creating space. The other half of the aether went into reinforcing it.

A bubble was formed around Dream. He sighed in relief as his body and soul had the pressure taken off them. However, he couldn't rest for long. He found that the power of the void collapsed down on the space, seeping into it. This power was unlike anything he had ever seen before though. Shockingly, Dream found that in front of this power, space and aether ceased to function as they normally did.

"It's like the laws of physics are breaking down..."

Dream was enraptured as he saw this. It wasn't only physics, but magic that ceased to function. Dream let loose some mana and flux and saw how they became chaotic before dispersing into nothing. This kind of annihilation rid mana of the laws that made it mana. It returned it to nothing.

As this happened though, Dream was observing that breakdown. He watched the chaotic void impart its effects. Dream could feel something within him, perhaps the deepest parts of his soul, gain something from watching that breakdown.

As he watched, Dream didn't notice his magic skill max out in level. It had been only a few levels away, and it seemed like those last few levels were hardest to cross. Now, they were jumped in an instant. But it wasn't for no reason.

It was like Dream was being enlightened as he watched the fundamental rules of the universe break down in front of him. He suddenly understood magic and its most basic parts. His [Arcana] skill, which encompassed the usage of all magical energies, reached the pinnacle of perfection. This meant that he had learned everything he needed to about magic, otherwise known as Arcana. There weren't many like him who could thoroughly understand what magic was at its most fundamental.

But it didn't stop there. When the skill maxed out, Dream continued to touch upon a higher height. He watched for an unknown amount of time that constant breakdown and effect on the laws of the universe. He didn't even notice as the chaotic void touched his body, tearing it apart as well.

Then, he was suddenly swept up by a storm, being ejected from the void. Dream reappeared in space that seemed so bright compared to the nothingness of the void.

But he wasn't lucid. Or perhaps, he was more lucid than he's ever been. He floated in an unknown part of the universe for over a week, just thinking.

Finally, something happened. A light appeared from within him, shooting from his chest and piercing into the heavens. This light disappeared after rising for miles above him, but Dream knew that it wasn't truly disappearing. It was piercing into a higher dimension, making contact with something.

When that happened, Dream felt it. He felt the light that shot out of him form a bridge with a higher dimension far beyond the 4th. Then, his mind was sucked up by that light, crossing the bridge and being injected into that higher dimension.

Dream entered a world of darkness. But within that darkness, there were sources of light that lit up the surroundings, turning night into day.

Massive fields of absolute dominion, like stars in the sky. Dream gazed upon these fields, these stars formed from absolute power that appeared as bright orbs all around him. Some of these stars were small, but others were massive, eclipsing all others.

The big fields of power had connections with all the smaller ones. They were obviously linked in some way, possibly a part of the same whole. Dream saw these and could feel their presence, but he couldn't comprehend any of them. They merely touched his soul, as if curious about a rare passerby.

Then, he stopped. The light that guided his soul through this higher dimension pierced into one particular star. This star was massive, powerful, and unfathomable. Dream could see that among the other stars, it was one of the bigger ones, perhaps near the bottom of the highest level. Dream's mind touched upon the stars most surface layer. In that momentary touch, he felt a grand mysticism and domination. The field directly imprinted what it was into his mind.

'The Concept of Ethereal Force - Magic!'

It was a concept! This concept was a rule of the universe, something all existences under it followed as naturally as existing. This was the concept of Magic, or more officially known as Ethereal Force. It was the way by which a soul could touch and control things like mana, flux, and aether. Through Ethereal Force, one could control any mystical energy, bending the world to their will.

Dream wanted to sink into this concept, losing himself in the feeling of awe. To stand in front of such an unfathomable existence was enlightening. But Dream wasn't allowed to stay for long. After barely grazing the surface and leaving the tiniest mark, he shot off in another direction. He headed toward another star, another concept. This one was one of the biggest concepts, much bigger than Ethereal Force.

Like previously, he touched the surface with that light guiding him. This time, he felt from it a blazing heat, nihilistic cold, metallic structure, and extreme order. He was given its name, its dominion.

'The Concept of Physical Reality - Science!'

This was the concept of science, or Physical Reality. This held dominion of all things that made the physical universe function. Atoms, dots, forces, energy. All these things existed within this concept. With this concept, one could understand the entirety of the physical universe. They would know the why behind the laws of physics.

Then, after a small wisp of himself was left on the concept, Dream shot away. He descended back through dimensions.

That light sunk back into his body that floated in space, leaving him dazed and a bit heartbroken as if his lover slammed the door on him.

But that feeling rapidly faded. With touching an actual concept came an unexpected surprise.

...