Origin Seeker

Chapter 67: [Master Artificer]

The wolf felt as if its head was on fire after the ball appeared

This was indeed the heat bomb that Dream made. It was designed to heat everything within the vicinity as quickly as possible using every drop of mana it had. The only downside was that it didn't distinguish between friendly and enemy. It was more of a 'to whom it may concern'. And since Dream was also right next to it, he was on the list. 

The wolf immediately began regretting its decision. It crashed into Dream and they both went to the floor. 

The wolf tried to spit out the ball, but its teeth were in the way. Dream had brought out the ball inside its maws and connected the metal to its teeth using some heat. The wolf wouldn't be able to spit out the ball unless it removed a few of its fangs.

*ARRRR!!!*

As the ball continued heating the wolf's face, it began to cry out more and more. It didn't even have the mind to remember it was in a battle. It's skin began to melt, its blood boiled along with all the other fluids in its body. The ball indiscriminately heat up everything. This of course included the brain.

Where was Dream in all this? He was right there, watching everything. It was fortunate that his armor was enchanted for heat control. Not to mention his own skill was used to make the bomb. He didn't really have a problem preventing himself from cooking. 

*Boom!* *Boom!*

As the black wolf melted, more explosions came from the shields. Several of them were even blown away with the fireballs. Dream stood up to go take care of the red wolf. Though right as he did,

<You have killed a level 189 [Reaper Wolf]>

<You have gained Experience!>

<You cannot level up before choosing a class>

A notification popped up as the wolf behind him was killed. He nodded and lifted his railgun. He then aimed at the shield wall that was protecting him from the fireballs. 

*Boom!*

Right as the red wolf launched another fireball at him, a gap was opened in the shields. Dream fired through the gap straight at the red wolf.

*Dsh*

*Splat!*

<You have killed a level 177 [Flaming Dire Wolf]>

<You have gained Experience!>

<You cannot level up before choosing a class>

Dream nodded. The red wolf probably wasn't expecting a shot from that angle. Easy kill.

With that, all the wolves that were a threat were dead. Dream doused the flames from the fireballs and put away his shield wall. The forest regained its silence and darkness.

Although he killed all the threats, there was still one more wolf. He turned his head to the white wolf who was standing a little ways away. It was also looking back at him. It spoke.

'...Go ahead and kill me, human.'

The white wolf lowered its head in defeat. Dream tilted his head.

'...You would just lay down your life?'

'I cannot fight against you. You killed all the alphas, and I am a mere healer. What point is there to resist?'

'...Go back.'

'..?'

The white wolf perked up its ears. Say what?

'Go back to your den. I have no need to kill any more of you. And they need you to survive.'

'...Your pity is an insult. It's hypocritical! You killed the protectors of the den, but then worry for its survival?'

"Well you aren't the only ones who have something to protect!"

'...'

The wolf went silent at Dream's outburst. Catching himself, Dream calmed down.

'Leave before I change my mind, wolf.'

'...'

The white wolf silently turned and began walking towards its den. When it was out of sight, Dream collected the corpses of the alphas and walked home.

He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

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

..........

Dream woke up the next day at noon. Sophia came with a notification when he opened his eyes.

[The family is in combat again.]

"*sigh*"

He felt tired again after hearing about that. They had been fighting on and off for the past few days. Though nothing crazy ever happened.

Neither Riddick nor the foxes were ever really injured aside from the first battle. It was small skirmishes that always ended with the foxes getting away. They were trying to wear out the family. And given long enough, it would work. Luckily Riddick had experience with this and could last a long time, so he didn't need to worry right now.

"Ugh, how's my arm?"

As Dream moved around under the covers he felt the pain from his shoulder. He didn't really notice it before with all the adrenaline running through him. Although, when he felt it now it wasn't as bad as he thought. 

[I've repaired mostly everything. Another few hours and you'll be good.]

"Nice."

[You should also choose your class.]

"Oh, right."

Dream remembered that was a thing and sat up, making himself comfortable. When he did, some notifications popped up.

<Your selection of classes will be based on your Profile and Experience thus far.>

<The choice you make cannot be taken back. Excess experience will be accumulated and gained after the class selection has been made.>

<Select a class.>

1. Magic Engineer
2. Master Artificer
3. Gunner
4. Thermal Mage
5. Blacksmith
6. Enchanter
7. Warlock

"Hmm..."

Dream read the options. There were much less than last time.

"How many options were there before?"

[21.]

"And now there's 7. I can already cross out a few. Definitely not Enchanter or Blacksmith. Not Gunner. Thermal Mage sounds cool but it could be limiting to future growth. And Warlock sounds interesting, but it also sounds like voodoo stuff so no thanks. That leaves the first two. What's the difference between them though?"

Dream immediately made his deductions about the other classes and came back to the first two options. But they seemed like the same thing.

[If we go purely based on definition, an engineer is someone who builds and designs, and with the word magic in front of it, it likely has to do with building spells or even enchantments. An artificer is a more broad definition but you could also say it means the same thing. It's someone who's skilled in their craft that has to do with design and building. The only difference is the word Master.]

"So ones a magic builder and the other is a master builder? Basically? The Old Man wasn't kidding when he said wording was important. I can see how this would get very complicated for some people. But honestly, I'm already gravitating towards the Master. I doubt that word gets used lightly."

[I think it's better too.]

Dream closed his eyes and thought for a second. He brought up his status screen.

|Profile|

Name: Dream

Species: Human Male

Class: [Mystic]

Titles: [Origin Seeker]

Level: 99

Stats: Strength- D+      Agility- C-

           Stamina- C-       Magic- C+

Passive Skills: [Sophia] Lvl. 30, [MMA Mastery] Lvl. 30, [Vorticular Accumulation] Lvl. 67,

                         [Thermal Fluctuation] Lvl. 30, [Scribe] Lvl. MAX

Active Skills: [Summons From Another World], [Shooting] Lvl. MAX,

                         [Mystify] Lvl. 20, [Solid-State Magic] Lvl. 44, [Gas-State Magic] Lvl. 51,

                         [Liquid-State Magic] Lvl. 43,  [Fire Magic] Lvl. 20, [Regenerate] Lvl. 35,

                         [Imbue] Lvl. MAX >

Given his abilities, he truly was more geared towards design and building than combat. But hey, he could design weapons, so he's had no problems so far. In fact, he wasn't much different than a magician, just that he used mana in a different way.

"...Well, no need to overthink it. I choose [Master Artificer]."

<Class -[Master Artificer]- has been chosen!>

<Experience will be compiled and reformed.>

<[Sophia] has been enhanced>

[Commencing Emulation!]

"Huh?"

Just as the notifications began coming, Sophia eagerly shouted in Dream's mind. He got confused. Wasn't the system supposed to be the one giving him abilities right now?

Sophia soon came with her own flurry of notifications.

[Breaking down [Imbue] and [Scribe].] 

[Emulating State skills.]

[Breaking down [Fire Magic].]

[Breaking down [Regenerate].]

[Emulating [Mystify].]

[Breaking down [Shooting].]

"Damn, shooting too?"

[Yup! Incorporating System enhancements and bestowals.]

"You're really playing the system right now..."

[It touched me, so yes.]

"You mean the enhancement?"

[Of course! Anyway. Gimme a few seconds with these.]

After she said that, Dream, who was looking at his status screen, saw nearly all of his skills disappear.

[You know what, let's break down [MMA Mastery] as well.]

"That's like my only skill left! If we got in a fight right now, I would be pummeled! What if those wolves wanted revenge and showed up right now?"

Dream shouted in nervousness. He felt really defenseless. Of course, he still totally trusted Sophia, but the fear of something happening right as he was at his weakest was still there. 

[I think you forget, but these skills are still under our control. Even if those wolves came we could wipe them out. And actually...]

"What? Actually what?"

[Breaking down [Thermal Fluctu-]

"Ahh! I've lost everything!"

[But there's still the vortex!]

"...Oh. I guess you're-"

[Breaking down [Vorticular -]

"Why must you toy with me, woman?!"

Dream shouted in unfairness. He was defenseless in almost every way now! He went searching through his inventory for something that reminded him of his weakness.

"Ah, the very first revolver I summoned. At least I still have you, you little pea shooter."

[You literally still have the railgun. And your armor!]

Sophia retorted as Dream hugged the revolver like a baby, exasperated by his drama. 

[Give me like 5 more minutes. I'm sure you can survive for that long.]

"Fine."

Dream gave up and laid back into his bed, getting comfy under the sheets. He closed his eyes, and five minutes later, Sophia notified him.

[I have done it!]

<You have gained the Active Skill: [Material Magic]>

<[Material Magic] is level 21>

<You have gained the Passive Skill: [Magic]>

<[Magic] is level 4>

<[Sophia] has leveled up!>

<[Sophia] is level 52>

"Hoooolyyy crap..."

Dream, who had just begun relaxing in his comfy bed, was spurred awake by an influx of mana. His body began to feel tingly and he became much more sensitive. Not only that, but his mind felt... aware?

"It's... I can see!"

[Uhh, I think you're kind of high due to the changes from the skills. Give it a few minutes.]

"Like, I'm hyper-conscious. And... Oh my god why can I see cells! And, the fibers. The, the blanket! And why is the floor so dirty! There's bacteria everywhere!"

[Ya, you're going to need a minute.]

"I gonna need a FAT minute so I can genocide these ugly bacteria! These have been on me the whole time?! How have I lived so long?!"

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

..........

....

One bacterial crusade later, Dream passed out on his bed and fell asleep. And several hours after that, he woke up. Interesting thing was, he wasn't tired one bit as he opened his eyes. In fact, he felt incredibly refreshed.

"...So what's the damage?"

[Well, a minimum of several billion bacteria lost their lives to your brutish genocide.]

"Very funny."

[Take a look at your status screen.]

A screen popped up in front of Dream. He took a look at it.

|Profile|

Name: Dream

Species: Human Male

Class: [Master Artificer]

Titles: [Origin Seeker]

Level: 102

Stats: Strength- C      Agility- C

           Stamina- C       Magic- B

Passive Skills: [Sophia] Lvl. 52, [Magic] Lvl. 4

Active Skills: [Summons From Another World], [Material Magic] Lvl. 24

"...Wow, that's a significant change. Why did I get a skill called Magic? Seems rather redundant."

Dream looked at his status page that was basically blank compared to before. Not only that, but all his stats had gone up, especially his mana which jumped a whole two levels.

[It could be otherwise known as mana manipulation.]

"Alright. Where did the other skills go like Mystify?"

[They were either put into those two new skills or I brought them under me as sub-skills.]

"You know, I haven't actually seen your sub-skills. What are they?"

[Check this out.]

Sophia brought up her own status-like screen. Dream read through it.

[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. Exclusive to: Sophia
  • [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.
• [Mana-Matter perception] - The ability to comprehend phenomena in the world through mana.
• [Cognitive Manipulation] - The ability to twist perception. 

"Hmm. I've had mind space haven't I?"

Dream saw that the sub-skills were similar to the ones he started with way back when. He knew Emulator, and the Mana perception was his awareness. Cognitive Manipulation was a fancy name for his Mystify skill as well.

[Yes. It evolved from [Visualization].]

"What about thought acceleration? Is that the ability that lets you and I have fast conversations?"

[Yup. The rate of acceleration is about 20,000 times. Though It could be dangerous for you to use it to that extent since your brain may not be able to handle it. But for me, It's perfect. And parallel processing let's one part of me think about analysis while accelerated, and the other remains unaccelerated to talk to you.]

"Wow. Wait, how old would you be then? I mean, I don't know how often your thought is accelerated, but considering the work we do, it's been a lot."

[It's not nice to ask about a lady's age.]

"Well, even at half that rate, let's say 10,000 times. If you were accelerated for one day, that's 10,000 days. Which is a little under 30 years, but let's round up. 30 years multiplied by let's say 10 days, that's 300 years..."

[...]

Dream went quiet after he processed that number. 300 years in 10 days' time? And that's just 10 days. He knows that Sophia has been 'thinking' much longer than that. H

"So in 100 days... that's 3000 years..."

[Dream, you have to understand the difference between us.]

"But... that's way too long...To even be alive for that long, not to mention alone..."

[That's who I am, Dream. I'm designed for processing. But with Parallel Processing, I can at least separate my conscious thought from my computer thought. I haven't really 'lived' for 3000 years. I've only lived since we first met. So don't worry. I've had you to keep me company this whole time.]

Dream sat there for a bit as Sophia explained. He didn't know how it would work, something like parallel processing, so he could only take her word for it. Though it did make him feel a bit better.

"....That makes me feel a little less guilty, but still."

Dream decided to just accept it. He understood that she was indeed a skill. Though that didn't make her any less important to him, as a person or a part of his life.

[But hey, good news! I was able to finish up on the DNA modifications. I've also compiled the necessary items for your body enhancement. Everything except for the bones at least. We can begin whenever you want.]

"Oh, alright. Won't I be really vulnerable for the procedure though?"

Dream focused his mind on this project. If they needed to go through a procedure to break his body open, he assumed that he wouldn't be able to fight anything. So he wanted to be safe.

[For the most part, yes. Though that'll only be during the surgery. The surgery will change everything except for your neurons and brain, which will change over time as your body slowly handles them itself.]

"...Ok. So what're the materials going to be?"

[For your muscles, it'll be an inorganic substitute. Twisted carbon nanotubes that react thermally and electrically. Their power is easily 230 times that of human muscle by size and weight. They can also react faster than normal muscles. Unfortunately, unless you want your muscles to break your own bones, I'm going to have to replace them during this surgery. We have two options that we can talk about later.]

"Alright, that's fine."

[As for blood, it'll also be inorganic. Each blood cell will be replaced with carbon-based microbubbles. They can carry 150 times more oxygen than normal blood cells at the same size and still have room for all their other functions. Although, the color of the blood will be white, so get ready for that.]

"Uhh, ok? That'll be interesting."

[And then, there's your organs.]

"Oh boy."

[Since you never really need to go to the bathroom anymore and food intake will be handled very differently than before, I've been thinking about scrapping the organs responsible for waste processing and disposal like your intestines and such. Your DNA will be programmed to handle the little waste that does need to be taken care of.]

"Eww, but alright."

[As for your lungs, they will be made much more effective. In fact, I'm going to try and make them capable of synthesis so oxygen isn't as essential. Honestly, I tried getting rid of the need for air altogether, but that's realistically impossible for now. Anyway, your heart will change, kidneys, liver, stomach, ears, eyes, and whatnot. Even your skin will change but don't worry, you'll still look human.]

"Thanks for that. 

[Lastly are blood vessels and other small things. They'll be designed according to everything else.]

"From start to finish, how long should this take?"

[Hard to tell. But at minimum, I say 3 weeks, with the surgery only taking about 4 days. That's if nothing unexpected happens.]

"Hmm. I guess we'll have to build a safe house before that. Don't want to get caught with my chest open."

[That shouldn't be a problem.]

"Well then, I guess we have our next objective. Let's start preparing."