Origin Seeker

Chapter 40: Hope

Elaina guided them up the floors. 

The third floor consisted of the twins two rooms. Just two doors across from each other in a hallway. 

The 4th floor was Graff and Elaina's room. This time there was no hallway and just a door. Looks like they had a whole floor for themselves. The 5th floor was similar to the twins floor, having two doors.

"We have two empty guest rooms here. There's another room upstairs, but its barely a room. We would have to furnish it before someone uses it." (Elaina)

"The study isn't up there?" (Dream)

Dream remembered Elaina saying there was a study and figured it would be the top floor or something.

"My study is underground. I have a platform in my room that leads down to it and there's no other entrance." (Graff)

"...I can't believe you bought a platform." (Riddick)

"What else is there to do with my loads of money? Speaking of, I can go buy some furniture for the 6th floor." (Graff)

"There's no need. I have my own furniture. I'll just take the 6th floor." (Dream)

Dream spoke up before Graff went running off to spend money. Since he could summon furniture, he could take the empty room and furnish it himself. He also didn't want to use this world's furniture.

"Oh? So you did have an inventory! I wondered where you got that alcohol from." (Graff)

"I can help you clean the room then. Will Luna and Iris need separate rooms as well?" (Elaina)

"No, they can stay together." (Riddick)

"Ok. The rooms are already ready for use, so you can just choose one." (Elaina)

"Thanks." (Riddick)

"Sure thing. Follow me, Dream." (Elaina)

Elaina led Dream up the stairs while Riddick and the girls picked their rooms.

When they got to the 6th floor, it was another door just like the 4th floor. Elaina opened the door, which creaked from having no use, and walked in.

The room looked more like a floor, which it was. A big wide open space that was the size of the living room downstairs greeted Dream. Though that was all there was, it had no furniture at all. the only things Dream could see was a wall to the left with two doors on it.

"Those doors are the bedroom and bathroom. And this big area is the living space." (Elaina)

Dream nodded and walked around the area a bit. There was plenty of dust, letting him know just how long it'd been since someone's been up here.

"Sorry about the mess. We haven't used this room in quite a while. It was originally supposed to be the study, but we ended up putting it underground." (Elaina)

"That's alright. Are the bedroom and bathroom furnished?"

"The bathroom has the basics, and the bedroom doesn't have anything. Are you sure you don't want us to go get something? My husband wouldn't mind making a trip."

"No, thank you. I have everything I need."

"Very well. I'll at least clean the place for you."

After saying so, Elaina began using magic. A big ball of water was conjured and began flying across the floor and walls, capturing all the dust.

When she swept the living area, the ball of water became brown with dirt. She then walked over to the bedroom and bathroom and did the same.

When she was done, She went over to a window and threw the ball outside, hitting the ground next to the building. After that, she began using air magic and blew all the stagnant, dusty air out the window and refreshing the room.

"There! You're all set. Do with the place as you like, and if you need anything, let us know." (Elaina)

"Thank you for your hospitality. I'll take good care of this space." 

"You're very welcome. Oh and just a little detail about the room, since it was supposed to be a study it's extra sturdy and isolated, so any loud noise inside or bangs against the surfaces won't escape the room. There's a mana barrier around it as well, preventing any unwanted eyes from peeking. Last but not least, the door locks. Just so you know."

"..."

"Well, I'll be going then! Have a good night."

Elaina walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

'...She's a dirty woman. '

[This works out great for you though.]

'I can't argue with that. Either way, I get an entire floor to myself.'

Dream looked around for a bit and decided to walk into the bedroom.

It really was empty like Elaina said, but there was one thing she didn't mention.

"What's that door?"

Dream walked up to a door across the room and walked through it.

"...Whoah."

Dream took a second to take in the view. The door led to a balcony!

The balcony hung outside the building and gave him a view of the city. He could even see the gates leading out of the Mountain. It truly was a magnificent view.

"So they do have lighting systems. Though it's not everywhere, but at least the streets have some light. I thought everything would be dark."

"Dream?"

"Huh?"

Dream heard a voice from below him and peered over the edge of the balcony. 

"Oh! Hi Luna. I guess you guys have a balcony too."

"Hi! And yes, it was outside our bedroom."

"Same here. How's the furniture?"

"It's good! The beds are actually really comfortable. So we probably won't need yours.'

"That's good."

"What about your furniture?"

"There isn't any. I'll be summoning things out."

"Oh. You need help?"

"Uhh, sure, why not."

"Okay. Hupp..."

"Whoa! Be careful."

Dream got caught off guard after Luna just decided to jump up to his balcony rather than go up the stairs. She grabbed the ledge and Dream grabbed her arm, pulling her up.

"Thanks." 

"Sure."

They walked into the bedroom and Luna looked around.

"There really is nothing." (Luna)

"It's fine though. That just means that I can do what I want. Starting with the bed..."

Dream began summoning out items. He first put the bed over close to the balcony door.

He then summoned out a dresser, a giant wall mirror, and a really big carpet that filled almost 80% of the room. 

Next, he brought out a big tv and put it on the wall. He then took out a couple of Powerwalls for electricity. 

"Alright, that does it for the bedroom. I should do the bathroom next."

Dream walked over to a door in the bedroom that led straight to the bathroom. When he entered, he found that it was very spacious.

It had a bath, toilet, and sink. Thought it was bare, it was all he really needed.

"Wait, toilet?"

"Ya, they have working bathrooms like our old house. I was surprised too." 

"...Thank the lord."

Dream gave his heartfelt thanks. He also tried it out and found that it worked almost the same as regular toilets. The bath and sink also worked the same as regular ones.

"Well, I do believe I'm set then. Not much I need to do here. Other than soaps."

Dream threw some soap bottles near the tub and sink. He then walked out of the bathroom into the living area.

"Now, I really don't know what to do with all this space." (Dream)

"A place for your experiments?" (Luna)

"Maybe. Or I'll do it in Graff's study. Speaking of, how did you like them, by the way?"

Dream turned to Luna for her opinion on the family. He didn't forget that her, along with Iris, could sense the true state of souls and in turn, someone's emotions. This helped with seeing if people were fake or genuine.

"They were nice. Though the twins were lustful and arrogant, it wasn't anything different from what we've seen already. I could sense greed from Graff, likely due to the money he makes, but otherwise good-natured. Elaina was also a bit judgmental, but again, still a good person. Ultimately, they seemed to really see dad as a friend. It was also nice seeing him happy to meet people he knew."

"That's good. Now, how do you feel about the situation they talked about? With what I'm now 100 percent sure is your mom."

Dream didn't beat around the bush and went straight to what he was concerned about. Luna heard his question and went quiet for a second.

"That...I'm not sure how to feel. Dad's never told us about our mother. All we've ever known is that dad was there for us. But after hearing what they said, that someone took mom away, it makes me angry.... I was supposed to have a mother all this time, and I know that I don't know what it's like, but after seeing other families at the kingdom, and you talking to your mom, I suddenly feel something missing. It's not like dad isn't enough either, I love dad, but it's just... I want to know what it's like. Is that wrong? To want more? I just feel ungrateful..."

Luna crossed her arms and looked down, feeling bad about what she was thinking. Dream went over to her and gave her a hug.

"It's not wrong to want your own mother. And wanting a mother's love isn't being ungrateful to your dad. He probably feels worse than you do, not being able to give a mother to his children. Not to mention how he doesn't even get to see her."

"I...I didn't think of it like that."

"What I'm amazed about though, is who the hell your mother must be. And how powerful the people who took her away are. Your dad said that he would need to get to 4th class. Nothing about this is normal, or something that we can intervene in. Now that I think about it, It must be a pretty big risk bringing you guys out into the world. It's been 20 years, but who knows if these enemies have given up. They could still be on the lookout."

"...Then it's another reason to get stronger. So we aren't a burden. We hid for so long, even got trashed on by those stupid clans..."

"Clans?"

Dream asked, remembering where he heard that. They had mentioned it back when Dream first met them. Something about how other clans used the hunting grounds. Luna explained,

"The forest our house was in had multiple clans of animals. Wolves, deer, birds. They all used the area, especially that tree dome. They would come and harass us occasionally. Sometimes they would drive us out of the hunting grounds, not letting us get. One time they even destroyed our house while we were gone. After we grew up we found out how powerful dad was, but he still never fought back unless it was necessary. Iris always got really heated and would yell and try to fight them whenever they did something. I wasn't as vocal, but I was still angry. Not being powerful enough to fight back made me mad. They could just push us around whenever they wanted..."

Dream felt Luna getting angry as she spoke. He began stroking her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

Luna went quiet and stayed buried in his chest for a bit, eventually calming down.

" *Sigh* I'm sorry. I know you need to help your world..." (Luna)

"No it's fine. I know you needed it. Although maybe you should go be with your sister. She might not be feeling so hot either."

"I can just bring her up here. We can stay here while you work. Cause I know you're not going to sleep anytime soon." 

"I guess so. Alright. I'll start setting things up. You get Scarlet."

Luna nodded and separated from Dream, walking towards the balcony. Dream also walked out into the living area.

"Alright Sophia. We got our work cut out for us. Get me a big Panel."

[On it.]

Moments later, a huge set of screens appeared around Dream. There were 30 screens in total curving around in front of Dream.

This was called a Panel. It was one of the premium devices found on Earth, costing a pretty penny. I could be used for anything, but mainly gaming and for a home theater. All 30 screens integrated seamlessly together, allowing gamers to see everything perfectly as if they were on the battlefield themselves. 

One by one the screens lit up, brightening up the previously dark room. After a moment, a search engine appeared in his view under the name 'Quantum'.

"Ah, Quantum. A cryptocurrency turned search engine. I still find it amazing how it replaced Google all those years ago. Sophia! How was that project I gave you coming along?"

Sophia's voice came over a speaker system.

[It's going well. We've infected 81% of the known decentralized internet space. Everything else is either ridiculous quantum-based A.I. security or has never connected to the web. And although it's only 81% of the internet, we can make contact with 98% of the world's population. Whether it's over social media or direct to their terminals, there is a way for us to deliver data.]

Dream nodded and recalled his time back in the forest. When he had become able to connect to the internet, he had many things he wanted to do. The biggest one though, was to create a super-intelligent A.I.

Although he had Sophia, creating A.I. was something he had always been interested in. And he could obviously never do it himself, but that's why he had Sophia.

When he began to mess around though, he began thinking bigger. One thing led to another, and he eventually gave Sophia the task of taking over the internet. With her vast knowledge and programming capabilities, there was nothing she couldn't do.

"So in short, we've succeeded. This will be a cakewalk then."

[Of course.]

"Dream? What's all that?"

Dream turned around at the voice, finding Luna and Iris coming from the bedroom.

"Oh, hi guys. What I'm doing here is preparing to hijack every major communication platform in my world. There are nearly 16 billion people living on Earth. And I will be sending a message to them all."

"16 people?" (Iris)

"16 Billion people. Ten, hundred, thousand, million, billion. Let's just say it's a lot."

"Okay. And what message are you sending?" 

"The message is an outline of the details about the System. I will be telling everyone about magic, skills, attributes, classes. Everything they need to know about the new power they possess. Hopefully, this will help calm the world, making it so that less people die during the trial period. And although this will probably only help a little, it at least gives everyone a fighting chance. Sort of."

"Ok, but why would people die? They're just getting mana and a screen in front of them." (Iris)

"It's not that simple. The introduction of the Record overturns what they know about the universe, and more than that, it gives everyone a chance to gain power. Before, everyone was pretty much the same. Sure there were strong and weak people, but weapons made it so that everyone was equal. It didn't matter who you were, if you took a shot to the head, you were dead. But now, that's no longer the case.

There's a true path to strength in front of everyone, and there are many people who want someone else dead. Nations will be meaningless to the powerful. Wars will break out between those with magic and those who reject magic. There will be many bad people drunk on the power who will do anything to get stronger. Monsters will be created and rampage. Everyone will be thrown into chaos as people begin to figure out this new way of life. How many people will die? I'm not sure, but there is no doubt that the number is massive."

Dream went quiet after explaining everything to Iris, who managed to get a hint of how critical a situation it was.

"I didn't realize mana was that bad..." (Iris)

"It's not bad." (Dream)

"But won't tons of people die because of this? Families destroyed, kingdoms burned, is that not what you just told us?"

"Yes, but there's something you need to understand. That while the introduction of mana is chaotic, it also represents something."

"What's that?"

"It represents hope. In a world of materialistic societies, mana is the door to something greater. To pursue something that truly matters and open the doors to a higher realm of being."