Chapter 450 - Unknown Essence
Daniel ignored the scientist, and instead focused on the metallic orb.
The reason why he had stolen the grey matter, was because he wanted to test at what level a cosmic event caused by the use of the grey matter, would attract the attention of the monsters that only he, Nova, and Edmund could see.
Unfortunately, the amount of grey matter in Daniel's possession was not enough to be used in a propulsor that, installed on Daniel's planet, could make it travel at a speed faster than light, or at least, not if the planet maintained its size, and definitely not for too long.
All he could do was to force the scientist to build a burner that would consume a large amount of grey matter all at once. A task which the scientist had completed by simply reengineering the object he was so familiar with, and remove any of the dozens of limitations built to dose the quantity of grey matter that was consumed.
After a few days, the completed product was a smaller version of the metallic orb he had destroyed, also known for what it was used for, as a wormhole creator.
"Step out and set it up." Said Daniel, already aware that the scientist could only program something that his race knew how to use. After all, creating a version that could be used by humans, and that was set in the human language required a whole new level of knowledge, that the memory contained in the scientist's bracelet did not possess.
The scientist was terrified by the idea of leaving his safe box, as he, along with various generations before, had lived between spaceships. The idea of not having a roof above his head while standing on hard floor, made him think that he would fall in the sky at any moment, causing him to become nauseous. If that was not enough, the fact that the concentration of oxygen present in Daniel's planet was highly toxic for him was enough of a deterrent. However, Daniel's tone did not leave space for discussion, so he could do nothing but to do what he was told, and trust in the fact that Daniel needed him alive.
To his surprise, the spatial barrier he tried to penetrate stuck to his body like a protective film that, other than following his movements, was able to change the composition of the gases that moved through it, into the ones required by him to survive.
Slightly reassured he walked towards the panel, and after pressing a few buttons, the metallic orb turned on, opening the compartment in which the grey matter needed to be placed. "What are the specifics?" He asked Daniel with a timid tone, which was quickly translated by his bracelet into a neutral human voice.
"As wide and as far away this amount of matter can make it. It has to stay open for at least a minute, I don't care if this thing has to break down for that to happen." Responded Daniel with a cold and indifferent tone before taking out the entirety of the grey matter in his possession, and placing it into the compartment, which was barely big enough.
After a few more clicking sounds, the scientist turned to look at Daniel, and said, "Press this, and the machine will do the rest."
Daniel did not ask any questions, and instead said, "It's time." These two words were not loud, and yet could reach all the way on the other side of the planet, and into the ears of Edmund, who was spending time with his family, and all the way to the spatial formation that covered the planet, where Nova resided. He then placed his right hand over the metallic orb, and disappeared with it.
When he reappeared, he was standing far away from his planet along with Edmund, Nova, the old man Golden Cauldron, and anyone who was curious enough to watch. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Asked Edmund with brows furrowed from worry, still fearful of what he had seen when in the void.
After a few seconds spent in a pensive state, Daniel turned to look at his companions, and said, "If events of cosmic proportions are what these monsters want, then our universe would have already been gone way before their discovery of the grey matter. There has to be something.. A form of power that helps them mature into the monsters that inhabit the void."
The group could not find any argument against Daniel's claims, so they remained quiet, and did not meddle any longer with what he was doing.
Seeing that no one had anything to say, Daniel pressed the button, and witnessed as the metallic orb was activated. The entirety of the grey matter was split into microscopic molecules, and forced to travel into forced path at a speed that went beyond that of light.. and soon after, the space around them began to fold.
The radius of folded space was around a light hour, meaning that as soon as the wormhole would open, it would create a shortcut that if used, would save them just a bit more than a billion kilometers, which was only a fraction of what the wormhole he had destroyed was capable of.
Soon enough, the two edges of the affected space arrived at a distance so close, that the spatial essence present on both sides began to be drawn together, and turn into an invisible spatial tornado, which from both sides, would appear as if two whirlpool connected to one another from their deepest point, had suddenly formed.
Daniel did not pay attention to the opening of the wormhole, and instead focused on his surroundings, trying to capture the exact moment in which these monsters would appear, but of them, there was no trace yet.
The whirlpool kept growing in size more and more, until finally, when about as large as a city, its deepest part opened up, completing the formation of the wormhole. It was right at this moment, that Daniel turned to look at the newly formed wormhole with a confused expression.
Once fully formed, the wormhole had started to emit a negligible amount of power which only he could see. A power of which even he could barely feel the familiarity with, and from which he could not look away.
The entrancement he felt was so vast, that he had failed to notice the appearance of a few dimensional destroyers, only noticing them after their smallish and undeveloped bodies appeared in his sight while approaching the whirlpool, and tried to latch onto it.
"It's them! IT REALLY IS THEM!!" Shouted Nova, who was originally from the void, where these creatures were unstoppable destroyers whose objective was none other than to further destroy what was already un unlivable environment.
Edmnund also possessed a perfect comprehension of space, but while he had noticed the monsters and was reassured by the fact that they were so much smaller than their more dangerous counterparts, most of his attention was directed at Daniel, who appeared to be on the verge of dashing into the cosmic event head first.
Almost as if to confirm Edmund's worries, Daniel said nothing, and after covering his body with a solid layer of space, flew directly to the edges of the wormhole, right where the dimensional destroyers were desperately headed to.
Once he arrived, Daniel immediately noticed that the monsters were siphoning every bit of that unknown power with their mouths, like a cow's thirsty offspring. The more they absorbed, the more of their eyes would pry open, and the longer their already massive tentacles would grow, but that was not all.
Now that he was closer, Daniel could feel that form of power enter the bodies of these monsters, and reach the deepest parts of their stomachs, right where in their mature counterparts, the spatial concept of collapse was kept. However, instead of the destructive power, was a nearly imperceptible vortex which would immediately swallow every bit of power was sent in its direction.
Unfortunately, the concept of collapsed space was not completely absent, and instead, grew more powerful the more of that unknown power was absorbed in a trade that was similar to how humans would absorb natural mana, and give it up to the spiritual plane just to receive the spiritual essence they needed to perform their abilities in exchange.
Where this vortex led, or why it would emit a concept which with time would inevitably lead to develop into a weapon of mass destruction, Daniel could not tell. His only hope to understand more of what was going on, was to study the power that was emitted by the wormhole. With that objective in mind, he approached the edges of the wormhole, and started to guide that form of power towards him.
The moment some of this power approached his position, however, the closest of these monsters, which until now were peacefully feasting on the power, started to fling their tentacles in Daniel's direction.
The speed of these attacks was enough to prevent Daniel from ever being able to come in contact with any amount of that power, but to the current him, neither the speed nor power were a danger of any capacity. He quickly floated out of the monster's reach, but just as he was preparing himself to attack them, the monsters lost interest in him, and after turning to look back at the wormhole, they latched on to it one more time.
While not particularly appreciative of what had just happened, Daniel was glad to have discovered something more about these monsters. The fact that they were conscious enough to want to protect their food, or at least, they were created to do as much.
Now more cautious, Daniel once again approached the edge of the wormhole, and once again began to absorb the power, causing a few of the closest monsters to attack him, but this time, the moment their tree-sized tentacles would reach a distance of about a kilometer from him, they would be torn to shreds by the invisible net of atom-wide spatial threads that Daniel had erected around him.
Being hurt appeared to be nothing of importance for the monsters, who instead increased the numbers of attack by the dozens, and quicker than ever. But before any of these attacks would reach him, the wormhole began to destabilize, and the unknown power stopped being produced. Soon after, the wormhole began to shrink in size, until finally, in unison with the sudden explosion of the metallic orb, it closed completely.
The disappearance of the wormhole made the monsters lose interest in that particular section of space, and leave as quietly as they had arrived.
Where only a few moments earlier was a wormhole, now stood Daniel, closed in a spatial bubble, and surrounded by every bit of unknown power he had managed to rake in before the wormhole closed.
Unsure of what to do, Daniel found himself with a choice. He could let go of this oddly familiar yet potentially lethal power and take stock of what he had discovered, or go all in in his research, and allow the power into his body, so that he could understand it better.
To willingly allow a strange power to invade one's body was a great taboo for cultivators. After all, no one could tell whether this power would be beneficial, or if the sheer composition of that power, similarly to the essence of corruption, would be harmful, and end up killing the person who had absorbed it. But luckily, Daniel was no common cultivator, and after a few seconds, he decided that it was unlikely that this power would destroy every aspect of his being, and even if it did, he still had his failsafe ability. So without thinking too much about it, he inhaled deeply, allowing the odd essence to enter his lungs, and permeate into his body.
The very moment the essence entered Daniel's body, he finally understood why it felt so familiar to him, or more specifically, to healing essence. What this power and healing essence shared, was the fact that they were both merged powers, and more importantly, they both contained the fickle essence of time. What was merged with time instead of life essence, was the essence of space.
This unknown power, to which the monsters were attracted to, and that could feed their power of destruction, was nothing other than the essence of spacetime.