The Outerplanar II

"Wait, hold on. I thought we had investigated a bunch together. How do you know all of this and we don't?" Kurt cut in with a frown.

Osho had mentioned he was looking into this stuff while they were at Stellaris, and the group could vividly remember the days when they burned through different archives just to get a smidgen of information, or how they would pester Veronica or Mateo to the point of the usually calm Masters getting genuinely irritated with them.

Going into this, they thought that the information they had was roughly similar, but now Osho was just throwing out terms they didn't even understand.

"You tend to know more when you have your own information network," He pointed at Fredrick. "Also, they were willing to tell me more things when I wasn't with you guys." The second part made his friends look at him with wide eyes.

"Wha- WHY?!" Sam exclaimed with indignation, and Osho just shrugged.

"I'm the guy producing revolutionary beast products." That promptly shut her up.

"Let's get back on track, please." Mrs Jane said without an expression, and Osho cleared his throat.

"Right." He lingered for a moment before he went ahead.

"As I said, the way we think of space travel and how it actually works is quite different. With how large the universe is, traveling around aimlessly, even if you can create vessels that can consistently achieve faster-than-light speeds, is incredibly inefficient." He gestured to the two spheres he created, which were model universes, and he held up the more translucent one.

"Moreover, after Mana appeared, just exiting the atmosphere of a planet is extremely difficult because, as we know, the sky essentially acts like a barrier that keeps things out and in. In other words, conventional space travel is hardly worth it. Which is where the Warp Dimension comes in." Osho looked at the sphere before bringing it to the more corporeal one and made them overlap.

"Apparently, it's a sub-dimension that exists between the third and fourth dimensions simultaneously. Within it, the concept of space is... different, and traveling through it is absurdly fast, as while distance can't exactly be measured while inside, moving forward for a second or so will translate to moving a vast distance while outside in the physical universe." He explained.

"So... It's like a separate plane of existence where distance and travel are significantly easier." Haggai summarized.

"Yes." Osho nodded.

"But...?" Ellie gave him a look.

"But," He continued. "Due to it being in a separate dimension, there is the issue of actually finding a location you want to travel to. It may overlap with the physical universe, but the same way we can't see what's happening in the Warp Dimension from the physical universe is the same way you can't see what's happening in the physical universe from the Warp Dimension. In short, it's very easy to get lost, and since it's virtually impossible to estimate distance due to that concept being skewed within, it seems more like an unfinished product than a usable means of transportation." He elaborated.

"Yet these civilizations still use it and were able to discover Azure Star." William hummed.

"Indeed, because there is a way to find one's way through the Warp Dimension." Osho separated the model universes and enlarged them so that they filled up quite a bit of space near the ceiling, then he gestured to the one that represented the Warp Dimension, and this time, numerous dots that resembled stars appeared.

"These aren't stars," He immediately clarified. "Instead, they are worlds with a high enough mana density to sort of show up in the Warp Dimension. Anchors of sorts." Aaron spoke at the moment.

"But you just said that perceiving that happens in the Warp isn't possible, and the same goes both ways." He asked with a frown.

"Yes," Osho acknowledged. "But this isn't what you're thinking. Mana-dense worlds, like ours, don't simply appear within the Warp, else, we'd be able to perceive it from here. No, think of them as... beacons. The mana each world gives off is dense enough to 'shine' in the Warp like a light, allowing those traveling within to find it.

Think of how gravity affects space. The more gravity and space interact. The more gravity an object has, the more space bends around it, like how a wooden ball would bend a large piece of cloth less than a metal ball would if both were placed on it separately. Something similar happens here. The denser the Mana of a world, the brighter it 'shines' within the Warp Dimension, and the easier it is to find." This explanation made it click within their brains.

"I see... But still, there must be a huge number of worlds that possess Mana, and from what I can tell from everything you've said so far, the timelines for when these Outerplanar entities appeared was fairly early. Probably not a century after Mana descended. They found us a bit fast, no? Or were we just unlucky and Azure Star happens to be next to a bunch of civilizations already?" Simon enquired curiously.

"I had a similar thought," Osho shook his head. "But as it turns out, that's not it." He smiled darkly.

"Higher Mana density means a world shines brighter within the Warp, and higher Mana density usually means that world is more prone to producing valuable resources that are hard to find anywhere else in the universe. As it turns out," He leaned forward. "Azure Star is a fucking lighthouse within the Warp. Impossible to miss even if you had no clue how to navigate through it properly."

The mood in the room dropped further.

"I see... So the reason so many Outerplanar entities are interested in our planet is because..." Timothy trailed off.

"Azure Star is a big fat sheep." Fredrick finished and put his hands behind his head while leaning into his chair.

"One that they will do anything to get their hands on, whether through peaceful means or force." Osho added.

"... Great." Silence fell for a few seconds, then Fredrick decided to speak up again.

"Anyway, seeing as Osho here didn't actually answer the original question, let me do so." He leaned forward.

"Things look peaceful because the Legends and Myths are fighting within the Warp Dimension. That's also why, despite hardly ever hearing of their battles of finding traces, they frequently head off to 'settle' something," He smiled sharply. "They are fighting against the Outerplanar entities that are 'on the same level' as us." This made everyone perk up again.

"Why? I mean, I guess I can understand that fighting on the planet won't be wise, considering what's happened in the past. But I doubt breaking through the atmosphere to fight in space would be much harder than entering a sub-dimension to do the same thing." Kurt scratched his head.

"Again, propaganda." Osho shrugged. "Fighting in space will just make it obvious that we have 'visitors' trying to take over the planet."

"Okay, but why would THEY care?" Ellie raised a brow. "If their goal is to take over the planet, then wouldn't making their presence known to cause panic and destabilize our structure be ideal? I doubt the ones fighting them just said. 'Hey, can we fight in the Warp so we don't scare the people on the planet?'." Osho hesitated at that.

"There... isn't really a clear-cut reason for why that is the case, if I'm being honest. We can only speculate. Maybe there is a legitimate reason that involves the Warp. Maybe there is something making them hesitate. I honestly can't tell, and the ones who do know were extremely reluctant to share any info regarding that specific topic." Osho admitted with a sigh.

"Heh, maybe they've already sold off the planet, and all of this is just an act or something." Fredrick snorted. However, his joke wasn't appreciated, as several feathers that made bullets look like snails embedded themselves into his chair, just inches away from his head.

Gale lowered his wing, and Osho gave him a cold stare while everyone else glared at him.

"Joke like that again and you're losing an eye." He said coldly, and Fredrick frowned for a moment before he gave a carefree smile.

"Oof, touchy." He said while waving his hands in surrender.

"Alright. Is there anything else?" William asked with a sigh, looking like he'd aged five years in the last five minutes.

Osho was silent for a moment, but he shook his head.

"That should be everything, but if I remember anything, I'll say something." Osho said after a beat.

"Alright, this has certainly been... enlightening," William said after taking a breath. "However, all of that is still far away. At the very least, we should become Legends ourselves before we can start properly looking at such matters. We have more pressing issues to address. Like my possible assassination and our Citadel getting robbed." He said dryly.

"The issue is," Timothy frowned. "Who knows how many more traitors are in our midst? Sure, Gale can identify them, but they will notice something off and may move their plans forward. Moreover, they seem confident in their ability to handle you, William. We can't underestimate them." Timothy pointed out.

"They are also probably watching our every move, so gathering forces to deal with them will cause alarm bells immediately." Thompson mumbled with furrowed brows.

"Actually," Fredrick perked up at that. "I think that specific issue can be solved." He smiled.