Chapter 207 – Energy Control

*Slap* *Slap*

"Ugh... Huh?"

Dream awoke from his nap as his cheek was tapped. When he opened his eyes, he could see Luna sitting next to him, looking down at him.

"Oh good. So my skills do work fine with you."

"Huh?"

"Hehe, I saw your energy levels dip and came to check you out."

Luna giggled as Dream sat up. Right now he was back in his human form dressed in sweats and a comfy jacket he liked the texture of. He stretched his neck as he felt his soul.

"You healed me?"

"Mhmm. I wasn't sure how good it would work since I haven't tested it with your new body and all, but it seems to work just fine. By the way, what happened to the vessel inside you that contained our energies?"

Luna asked as she probed around his soul. Usually she could feel her contract and where the energy went, but now she couldn't, as if it just dispersed into his body.

"Oh, I got rid of that."

"Got rid of it?"

"Since my control of energy has extended to every energy I know of, there wasn't a need for a complicated system to combine your energies. I simply have it disperse into my mana pool where it naturally gets converted."

"Huh. Well that's convenient."

Luna nodded, impressed. The contracts used to be a significant issue, but now it was just a fancy energy supply for Dream. She was glad about that fact, and a bit of subconscious worry disappeared, like a weight off her shoulders. 

"Yea, it just kind of happened when I got my new body."

"Right. So, what's that thing you're working on?"

Luna changed the subject and pointed to the vat full of liquid platinum. She had initially been shocked when she felt the power contained in it, but after seeing how drained Dream was, it made sense. 

"Oh, that's gonna be Aegis's new armor body."

"Really? All that for armor? I thought you were making some kind of mana bomb."

"Nope. Although I did come up with a way to make a mana bomb, I won't be able to for a while."

Dream sighed as he thought about the mana atom. Oh, how he wished he could set up a machine to produce them and make himself some mana nukes. 

"Neat."

"Mm. By the way, how's the Haven?"

"It's doing good. Food is becoming less of an issue with the greenhouse and people are starting to settle into groups. Formal governments are being formed in each of the 4 districts, and social systems are naturally starting to develop. Businesses keep opening, schools are being set up, the works."

"Sounds like it's on the right track. Anything you need from me?"

"Not really. In fact, your lack of involvement is probably what's allowing everything to develop as well as it is. In terms of politics, I mean. Leaving governing to the rulers and giving them that power was the best call you could've made."

"Oh. Nice. I'm glad my neglect is positive."

[And instead, I'm the one left doing all the labor.]

"As if you don't use AI for everything."

[...Maybe. But still.]

Sophia huffed and went quiet after being called out. Dream just smirked and Luna giggled.

"Hehe. Anyway, I should get back to the Haven. I was in the middle of a meeting."

"Hoho, business girl eh? Honestly though, I'm surprised you're into that stuff. I could never sit through all that."

"Yes, and instead, you just take control of everything through absolute power and influence with your army of robots."

"Yup. I'm the most tyrannical and generous king there is."

"Huhu. Is that right?"

"That's right. Come here."

Standing up, Dream pulled Luna off the couch and into his arms. After leaning her back and looking deep into her eyes, he smiled.

"Hail to the king, baby."

And with a cheesy line that only he knew the reference of, he kissed her.

...........

"Alright, let's get back to work."

After letting Luna get back to her business, Dream turned his attention to the vat full of Platinum. 

[We need the molecule processors and then the suit will be good. After that we can integrate the reactor.]

"Alright. Let's do it."

Feeling good, Dream wasted no time and followed the schematics Sophia sent him. 

Since the molecule processors were much bigger than atoms, they were easier to handle and Dream didn't need to spend that much time making a bunch. When they were all finished, he had another container full of a dark gray liquid, all of which were the molecule-sized processors. He then dumped that liquid into the vat of platinum, mixing them together. 

The mixture quickly turned gray. Once it did, Dream nodded. 

"Now that just needs power from the reactor."

Saying that, Dream turned to the reactor on the table. It was shut down and ready to be processed, so after condensing a ball of mana, he used it as a microscope to disassemble the reactor into atoms just like the platinum. 

Since it used less material, Dream didn't have to exert himself that long, only taking a few hours. After that time, he had yet another container full of all the materials that made up the reactor, as if he blended up the reactor into a smoothie. It was also a gray mixture, and Dream didn't hesitate to dump it into the vat of platinum as well. He also dumped a bunch of hydrogen chips in there as fuel for the reactor. 

"Nice! Now we have one huge container of liquified tech. Can it start?"

[Yes.]

"Then go ahead. Let's see if it works."

Giving the order expectantly, Dream had Sophia start the assembly. She quickly sent a signal, and the next moment, a reaction occurred. 

Instantly, some of the liquid started to flow and form at high speeds using the enchantments. It was the reactor, and all the random particles started to come together and bond into their appropriate positions while other particles moved out of the way. 

In only 8 seconds, the entire reactor was formed perfectly after having combined all the particles that comprised it. Then, after Aegis tapped into his connection with it, it started to ignite itself. It quickly pulled hydrogen out of the air and formed the plasma inside of it, and after the chips were injected, the temperature drastically increased and power started being produced. 

[Reactor ignition success.]

Sophia spoke as she closely observed. When she did though, yet another reaction occurred. 

With the power available, the molecule processors moved over and extracted some, forming their magnetic and electrical network throughout the platinum fluid. When that happened, they were able to activate the platinum and give the order to start forming. 

When that happened, all the fluid started to swirl as it built itself from the ground up. In seconds, a gray humanoid was made, standing inside the vat. 

[And... Looks good. I'm not seeing any irregularities.]

"Except for one."

[Hm?]

Narrowing his eyes, Dream walked over to the humanoid and threw out a punch.

*Splat!*

Under his fist, a hole was made in the humanoid and all the platinum splattered like paint. 

"Something's wrong with the bonding."

He spoke as he watched the splattered remnants rapidly race back to the humanoid, filling up the hole like a liquid metal terminator. While he was glad that function worked, he wasn't happy about the fact that the body wasn't properly solidifying.

[...Get a microscope and let's check out those enchantments.]

"Right."

Nodding, Dream formed a mana ball and moved it over the humanoid. The two quickly analyzed the enchantments, but even after an entire hour, they couldn't find anything wrong.

[It's like it just doesn't want to listen. It's enchanted properly, but it's not carrying out its function.]

"I'm guessing it doesn't have proper influence over the atom. For some reason. Does the enchantment need to be denser?"

[Not sure. Try adding more flux. Maybe the bond between mana and matter is weak.]

"Alright."

Doing as she said, Dream brought over a huge amount of high grade materials and extracted their flux. He then started injecting it into the vat full of platinum, increasing the concentration. 

15 hours later, the entire vat was concentrated. Sophia sent out another signal.

[Let's try this again.]

With confidence, the two waited for the form to solidify. However, even after 20 seconds, nothing changed. 

"Huh?"

Tilting his head, Dream threw another punch. The humanoid splattered once more. Nothing changed.

"The hell?"

[...I'm stumped.]

"Maybe... it needs more? Let's just add more."

With uncertainty, Dream continued to add flux. The process was an even longer one though since it was getting harder to add flux to individual atoms, so he buckled down and focused.

..........

......

Unfortunately, even after 5 days, the two couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Dream sat on the couch in his cosmic form, staring holes into the gray sludge shaped like a human. 

"...I will break you."

He spoke, stubbornness and fiery determination radiating from his soul. Although he had gotten frustrated and mad a few times, he eventually calmed down and strictly looked at it objectively. Now, it was more than just building a suit of armor. It was a matter of principle. A matter of whether or not he would allow himself to be defeated by this problem. 

[...Could it be the quantum influence? Since the atoms are isolated by mana, their wave functions are larger. Maybe that uncertainty is tampering with the mana bond.]

Sophia gave a suggestion. Hearing it, Dream tilted his head and thought for a second.

"...Maybe... Actually, that's very possible."

Suddenly feeling a light bulb, Dream stood up and circled the humanoid. 

"Uncertainty would lead to a weaker bond since the enchantment can't identify the atom and its valence bonds as well, leading to them barely functioning. But the reactor was able to form..."

[The reactor wasn't as enchanted as the platinum, meaning the atoms were less isolated.]

"Interesting. So, suppose that is the problem. How would we counter it?"

[Either some kind of observation to collapse the wave functions or reducing the isolation of each atom. The second option is less viable since it would decrease the strength of the enchantment.]

"Hmm... Wait a minute. Why are we using mana anyway?"

Dream suddenly blurted out. All this time, they had been using mana, but Dream's primary energy was now the gray mist.

"Why aren't I using my mist?"

[...Force of habit?]

"Apparently so. Well I'm an idiot. Let's get this mana out of here."

Waving his hand, Dream shot out huge amounts of gray mist. 

When it came to the gray mist, he didn't have to transplant it into each atom. The gray mist could simply overtake the mana, neutralizing it and taking its place. Although it would usually consume some, with Dream controlling the mana, he was able to prevent the mist from being consumed and have it simply swap out. 

With that, although it took a while, Dream was able to swap out the mana for the mist and keep the enchantments. The process took 10 hours, and after that, things changed. 

Sophia sent a signal. When she did, the humanoid stiffened, and its surface shined, reflecting light. Dream's eyes lit up.

"It did it! Take this."

Excited, Dream swung out his leg for a roundhouse kick. His foot hit the humanoid's head, but instead of splattering like it always did, a loud impact sound rang out, and the humanoid stood its ground. 

"Hah! Finally! Yes! I'm a freaking GENIUS!"

Dream roared to the sky in accomplishment. However, the next moment, he was interrupted.

<You have earned the Passive Skill: [Chemical Potential Manipulation]>

<Congragulations! You have earned the third of 11 energy control skills as a class 4. This achievement will be reflected in a title.>

<You have earned the Title: [-------]>

<[Particle Manipulation has leveled up!>

<[Particle Manipulation has leveled up!>

<[Particle Manipulation has leveled up!>

"Huh? Another one?"

Dream was surprised as he stopped and looked at the notifications.

"I remember getting thermal and acoustic energy manipulation skills before. I guess I now got the chemical one huh?"

[Chemical potential... I guess it makes sense. You're directly controlling the bonds between atoms. I guess since we've gotten small enough, we're able to do that more directly than indirectly like before.]

"Mm. Hey, what were the other energy types? There's 8 more?"

[Mechanical, electric, magnetic, radiant, gravitational, ionic, nuclear, and chromodynamic.]

"Hmm... I don't think I'll be able to do any of those any time soon. Those all require me to interact with subatomic particles, and those work on scales and rules that I've only just started to touch upon. Quantum mechanics is going to be a tough nut to crack. Although, I think I might be able to do the mechanical one."

[Mechanical energy is macroscopic movement. I'm actually surprised you haven't gotten it yet. That one should be easy.]

"I know. Let's try and get it."

Looking over, Dream pulled an ingot to him. He then moved it around, but no notifications came to him. 

"Am I doing something wrong? I'm manipulating its movement."

[...Not sure. You've obviously done this plenty of times.]

"I have... Hey, that chemical skill was a passive one right?"

[It was.]

"Passive skills...Those supposedly don't require mana right?"

[I think so? They definitely require energy though.]

"But not mana. Not like my summons skill which requires mana and its consumption. Particle manipulation also requires mana and is an active skill, but arcana is a passive skill, since you use it with your influence. So I need to manipulate it with my influence?"

[Not sure. Try it.]

"Ok."

Dream moved the ingot again, except this time, he only used his influence. While it was a bit more difficult, he could obviously manage it, and sure enough, he got what he was looking for.

<You have earned the Passive Skill: [Macro-Mechanical Energy Control]>

<Congragulations! You have earned the fourth of 11 energy control skills as a class 4. This achievement will be reflected in a title.>

<You have earned the Title: [-------]>

<[Sophia] has leveled up!>

<[Sophia] has leveled up!>

...

"I still don't understand why I don't get those titles. Could it be because of my Origin Seeker one? Is it refusing the titles for me?"

[That's probably it.]

"...Eh, whatever."

Sighing, he just left it be.

"Anyway, I just got two more energy control skills. That's nice. Particle manipulation also went up to level 63. And you went up a couple of levels."

[To level 27. It's because I integrated those skills into your particle skill.]

"Nice. Though I sense that the particle skill will be much harder to level. Especially if I have to get those other control skills. I mean, I have to be able to manipulate photons and gravity and atomic nuclei. That's not gonna be easy, especially considering a photon and gravity aren't even things, just concepts."

[If they aren't things though, will you have to control them to level the skill up? It says particle, and those two things aren't particles.]

"...Good point. Maybe not. I don't know. Anyway, the suit works now. That's nice. Go ahead and merge with it, Aegis."

"Understood, my lord."

With that order, Aegis's heart and veins exited Dream and flew over to the new body. He then sunk into it and merged with it, connecting to its enchantments.

Soon, the skin was connected, and the body reformed into Aegis's normal armor body with red artery lines flowing through it. Now though, there was an additional reactor on his back. 

"Thank you, my lord."

Aegis bowed when he finished acclimating to the new skin. 

"It's nothing much. Now, we've got the armor and a power source. Now I just need the weapons. Then I'll focus on soldier production and figuring out what the demons are doing. With all that, I'm thinking we can take them out pretty smoothly."

Getting his thoughts in order, Dream started contemplating the future. He was really eager to just take back the planet and get on with his life. Unfortunately, the troops needed time to produce, and he couldn't strike too early. Until he was ready to scour every inch of the planet, he couldn't make them relocate, so he was going to bid all the time he could. 

"At least Iris hasn't reported anything unusual. It should take a while, so I'm thinking we'll have enough time. Hopefully..."