Dream Aether

Dream Aether (commonly referred to as Aether) is the cleanest primordial energy. It is a perfect energy, being undetectable and having no waste or manifestation of its existence. Theoretically, anything is possible given that the correct use of Dream Aether is employed.

Dream Aether is constantly absorbed from the atmosphere and stored by the Oracle Bracelet. The Oracle Bracelet can absorb Dream Aether from a dead body; compressing it into its purest form for the recipient's use. Additionally, Dream Aether can be directly absorbed without compression; a very dangerous process, as uncompressed aether from a dead body contains the memories, experiences, and feelings of the dead being.

But there was an assumption that the majority of Evolvers and Players would all admit out of pure experience after a while: The more people in one place, the more Aether. And the more spiritually evolved these creatures were, the faster the Aether grew. And the more Aether, the more these creatures evolved. A virtuous circle. No matter which Seed World was considered, any civilization advanced enough would one day feel or detect the Aether, and then finally use it.

## Properties

Like any other existential phenomenon, Dream Aether follows certain laws that dictate its fundamental properties:

* Aether is attracted to itself.

* Aether spun in a centrifugal fashion moves inward.

* Aether absorbed from the atmosphere is instantly replenished and retains its density.

#### According to the textbook Novice Aether Manipulation, introduction:

The Aether or rather Dream Aether is the primordial energy at the origin of the Universe. No one knows where it comes from and it is considered infinite. From Aether comes energy and from energy comes matter.

The higher the density of the Aether, the greater the probability that energy and matter will be generated. When the conditions are right, a Big Bang occurs and a new Universe or Seed World will be born.The Aether density of a Universe is always increasing, along with its entropy. There are three main reasons for this:

* The Aether of a world is constantly renewing itself, connected to its infinite source beyond time and space that no one can harness, not even the Oracle. The Aether of our Worlds is therefore only the crumbs of a larger source.

* The Aether is drawn to the Aether. The denser the Aether is at a point, the more the Aether will be drawn to that point, like matter with gravity. This means that the most powerful Evolvers and Players are helping to increase the density of Aether in the world they live in. It's an inevitable process that nothing and no one can stop.

* Aether is drawn by brain activity, especially thoughts and dreams, hence the term Dream Aether. Some Aetherists have theorized that the solidified Soul of living beings is actually a mini source of Aether, which then allows its control. Aether is therefore attracted to Life to a certain extent, and even more so to intellectually evolved life forms. A powerful Spirit attracts Aether just as money attracts the poor. (and the rich).

## Encoding

### Basics

Anything is possible with Dream Aether, but in order to be used, it must first be encoded.

Encode - an ability of the bracelet - can transform Dream Aether into energy used specifically to enhance a person's attributes. There are seven basic attributes initially accessible via Encode: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Vitality, Intelligence and Perception.

Also the cost to Encode varies according to the volume of the target. Above 3 cubic meters, the price doubled. Above 6 cubic meters, the price tripled. For example, 1 Aether point was needed to enchant a 3 cubic meter unit of volume with the Sharpness Encoding and this was also true for stats.

A giant needed much more Aether than a dwarf, but those who barely exceeded a certain size/volume were the biggest losers. Because of one extra cubic centimeter, improving their Aether stats would cost them a lot more. As such, it was better not to put on extra weight.

Every body, whether organic or inorganic, had a certain Aether capacity that it could contain before reaching saturation. The body of an Evolver could be compared to a bottle with the cork removed and the Aether to the liquid inside.

At first, the body had not yet reached its limits, so the bottle was far from full. As the Aether's stats increased, the bottle filled with water until it was full to the brim, then overfilled. This was the famous Aether's 100-point limit for human beings.

### Grade

They are also different grade in Encoding:

High-quality Encoding could force the Aether to condense so that it would take up less space. Grade 1 Aether could be compared to a gas, while Grade 2 and 3 could be compared to a liquid or a solid.

Each additional grade allowed the body to hold 10 times more Aether without any special effort. On top of that, it was possible to include more functions in this more complex Encoding, which made it possible to infuse each Aether Stat with passive properties comparable to an Aether Skill.

Unfortunately, this was not free of charge. The Oracle offered the 7 grade 1 primary Encodings for free to help the new Evolvers and Players to survive, but everything else cost a fortune that had to be purchased from the Oracle Store. (Grade 2 Strength Encoding requires 1,000 credits at the Ordel Store)

 Grade 2
 Grade 3

### Examples of Encoding

Although Dream Aether has no color, the Oracle has assigned colors to these different energies for simplicity's sake. Red is the color for Strength, orange for Agility, yellow for Constitution, green for Vitality, cyan for Intelligence and indigo for Perception. The Oracle device uses more Aether to encode each different energy based upon color; one point of aether for one point of Strength, two for one point of Agility, four for one point of Constitution, and so forth.

There are different colors for attributes other than the aforementioned seven basic attributes.

Below are all known aetheric attributes and their associated colors:

## Aether Crystal

### Currency

Any crystal structure can contain a fixed amount of Aether if properly processed. Usually, processed diamond is used to contain pure or encoded Aether. Diamond on a cosmic scale is not a rare commodity since any advanced civilization can make it from carbon, an extremely abundant element. The crystals are charged and uniformly cut to produce a standardized currency. These Aether coins can be used for all kinds of transactions, used directly or fed to the Oracle device to recharge its batteries.

The Mirror Universe works differently than the Dark Universe, but when it comes to economics the same rules of supply and demand apply. Aether is both the resource and currency with the highest purchasing power. After all, Aether empowers whomever possesses it, and with power, anyone can obtain most basic resources on their own. In addition, it is the only currency recognized by the Oracle System Store.

### Small test

Jake had tested different gems, which varied in size and type, and it turned out that for the same volume, these stones could contain more Aether than the identical Red Crystals provided by the Instructor. There were no color restrictions either. An emerald could perfectly contain the Red Aether of Strength, just as a ruby could contain the Violet Aether of Extrasensory Perception. He found, however, that the purity of the gemstone was important. Precious stones that were cloudy or had impurities inside could contain much less Aether than the others.

He concluded that the crystals provided by the Instructor were probably glass, or true crystal in the sense of the definition, namely glass to which lead oxide had been added to increase the transparency and refractive index. It could also have been zirconia or some other material. In any case, it had to be available in abundance in the Mirror Universe and it was clear that gemstones were not an ideal choice, despite their ability to contain more Aether.